


The Teenage Handbook: William Clayton Style

by IziWilson76



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Multi, Teenage Ideas, Teenage Rebellion, Thea is Alive, William is a Teenager
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-22
Updated: 2018-07-08
Packaged: 2018-12-18 14:08:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 24
Words: 35,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11876157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IziWilson76/pseuds/IziWilson76
Summary: As William blossoms into a young man, he's gotta go through some trials, learning life's lessons. Some annoying, others heartbreaking. But after all, when you're the Son of the Green Arrow, literally anything is possible.





	1. How to Be Cool

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this because I was bored. So it may or may not suck. Sorry if it does.
> 
> Oh and Disclaimer (cover your ears) I DON’T OWN ARROW OR ANY OF THE CW CHARACTERS!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> William like most teenagers, want to be cool. Since his dad is the Green Arrow with the most memorable catchphrase, what better way to get started? Of course, Auntie Thea is always there for her nephew

“It is I, William Clayton, Son of the Green Arrow!” A poorly imitated British accent sounded through the walls of the bedroom. “Nah that’s too obvious.” He paced the room for a bit, before coming up with a better idea, using his normal voice. Or at least what seemed better to him.

 

“I am William, Spawn of Clayton and…Queen.” The 12 year old son of Oliver Queen rubbed his temples in irritation. “Nope, too much.”

 

He had just finished his homework and was bored out of his mind when he looked at his action figures, one of them being his father, The Green Arrow. He remembered when he first met his dad’s “wife” Nyssa Al Ghul. And boy, did she have the best way of greeting people.

* * *

 

_Flashback_

 

 _“William, this is someone I’d like you to meet.”_ _Oliver gestured to the opening door, revealing a beautiful slender woman with raven hair and eyes that gave William the distinct feeling that making her angry was basically suicide. But otherwise, she seemed like a nice but strict lady._

 

_“I am Nyssa,” She spoke to him. “Daughter of Ra’s Al Ghul. Heir to the Demon. Or at least I was.”_

 

_William’s eyes popped out of his head. Since he loved action and spy movies, he could only think, ‘Whoa. Now that is cool.’_

 

_“Right.” said Oliver. “I have to head out for a mission, and Nyssa here is the only person who can watch you. Nyssa,” He walked over to her and muttered slowly. “Make sure you don’t give him ideas. The last thing I need is another accident involving him getting a black eye.”_

 

_“Come on, Dad.” William said in an annoyed tone. “I try the Salmon Ladder, ONE time!”_

 

_“Don’t raise your voice like that, William Clayton!” Oliver said firmly at his son._

 

_“I assure you, husband.” Nyssa walked up to William. “William is in a safe environment with me.”_

 

_“Wait, you’re my stepmom?” William blurted out much to Nyssa’s amusement. Unfortunately, Oliver did not find this funny and simply scowled, “Oh Jeez.”_

* * *

 

“I know!” He exclaimed, snapping out of his flashback. He cleared his throat a few times, before speaking in a voice deeper than his normal one. “I am the Son of the Green Arrow and you have **failed this city**!” By the time he was finished with that sentence, he had to hack a few coughs from the strain of his throat.

 

Puberty had kicked in slowly, giving him the occasional pimple here and there. And his voice was deepening a little, but not enough to his liking.

 

“It’s taken.” He flopped on his bed and spread his arms wide. “Ugh, why is it people who can kick ass, get the cool nicknames and lines?” He stared up at the airplane hanging from the ceiling and spoke in his poor British accent. “I am William, Son of Green Arrow. Heir to the….to the….Oy, this may be harder than I thought.”

 

“What are you doing?” He bolted upright at the new voice in his room. Standing at the doorway, was his Aunt Thea, smirking.

 

“Uh, stuff?” Thea Queen chuckled at her flustered nephew.

 

“What kind of stuff involves trying to practice horrible pick up lines in a bad accent?” She asked.

 

“They’re not-they’re not pick up lines!” William spluttered. “They’re not for Zoe!” He gasped, clasping his hand on his mouth and realizing his mistake.

 

“Zoe huh?” Thea asked in a teasing manner, sitting on the bed next to William. “So you have a crush already?”

 

“That’s not important.” said William. “Like I said, they’re not for girls.”

 

“Then why are you trying to sound like an overrated gladiator?” Thea asked sincerely, using her fingers to comb her nephew’s hair.

 

William pursed his lips. “Well if I’m going to go out and fight crime someday, don’t you think I need to have a good catchphrase? I mean, Dad, Nyssa, and James Bond, those guys have the most badass lines!”

 

Thea gave her nephew a pointed look, which made him immediately reply, “Language, sorry.”

 

“So that’s it.” Thea summarized in her mind what was going through William’s head. “You want to look cool.”

 

“Well yeah, but-”

 

“Come here and listen to your Auntie Thea.” She said, looking at him in the eyes. “First, you don’t need to be cool, just being you makes you one of a kind. And second, fighting crime? Who put that idea in your head?”

 

“Well since Dad is teaching me hand-to-hand-”

 

“For **self defense** purposes.” His Aunt reminded him. “So you can protect yourself if we’re not around to save your butt.”

 

“As I was saying.” said William. “If I’m going to learn how to fight, don’t you think I need to learn archery? That way I can fight the bad guys one day?”

 

“Oh, no way.” said Thea. “William, look at Star City. Any bad guy could be lurking out there, waiting to make his next move. People like-”

 

“Adrian Chase?” William quizzed.

 

Thea took a deep breath. She had hated the madman before, but when she was taken to Lian Yu, not only did she blame herself for not being able to save the boy’s mother, but she also hated Chase for involving an innocent child into the mad whirl of their complicated lives. He deserved so much more than to lose his mother and move to a whole new different life with a father he barely knew.

 

William and Thea warmed up to each other almost instantly, but they were still getting used to each other. Hey, she did say she would love to be an Aunt.

 

“Yes.” She kissed his forehead. “People like Adrian Chase, are still out there and will always exist. Part of being a vigilante, is risking your life to save others, no matter the circumstances.” She finished the sentence with a tear threatening to spill, as she remembered what her father, Malcolm Merlyn did to save her life. “Now, does that sound like the life a kid should have?”

“No.” William answered. “It’s just you guys gets to be these office people and these awesome heroes who inspire people like Rene. Me, I’m just the kid who lost his mom.”

 

“Don’t you ever say that.” said Thea. “And certainly don’t say, you need to be cool. You’re William Clayton. You don’t need to be cool, just be original, be yourself. Already you're one of the most awesome kids I know.”

 

“Thanks.” He took her in for a hug. “Wait, aren’t I one of the **only** kids you know?”

 

“Thea, William!” Oliver’s voice rang through the loft. “I’m home with pizza!”

 

“Well that settles that.” said Thea, rubbing her hands together. “You wanna grab some pizza or just stay in your room and keep making up stupid lines that make no sense?”

 

“Hey, they’re a work in progress!” Will exclaimed. “And miss out on pizza? Hell no!” 

 

“Do I hear language being used up there?” Oliver asked from downstairs.

 

“No you don’t!” William called down.

 

“And none of us better agian.” Thea warned.

 

“Sorry Aunt Thea.” William apologized making his way downstairs.

 

“Oh and in case you think I forgot,” said Thea. “Self defense is called that for a reason.”

 

“Exactly.” said William smugly. “You get to use yourself as a defense against bad guys. Which makes perfect sense as to why I should learn how to shoot an arrow.”

 

Thea only rolled her eyes and smiled. “Nice try, but the answer will still be no, at least for 10 years. Or 25, depending.”

 

“Depending on what?” William raised an eyebrow.

 

“Well…” Thea trailed off. “How much you mature.”

 

“Hey!” William cried indignantly. “I’m hitting puberty!” He rolled up his sleeve to raise his arm. “See? Armpit hair!”

 

Thea laughed, bringing herself and William down for some pizza and quality time with her brother.

* * *

 

When William met up with Kara Danvers a few weeks later, when she came to Earth-1 to help with Teams Arrow and Flash with a big mission, he was ready to make a lasting impression.

 

“And who is this young man?” The Kryptonian asked kindly.

 

Before Oliver could step in, William took the stand. “The name’s William.” He straightened his jacket. “As to who I am,” He took a step forward. “My name may be Clayton but I was born a Queen.”

 

It took all of Oliver’s strength not to laugh but Thea almost lost her battle. She was sure she had fractured her ribs from holding it in.

 

“What?” The 12 year old asked. “Aunt Thea, you said for me to be original. This is me being original.”

 

Oliver gave his sister an annoyed look while Kara was smiling at both the boy and his father’s reactions.

 

“What did you do?” He asked his sister.

 

“Wasn’t me.” said Thea, raising her arms. “I just gave him advice.”

 

When she saw William walking with Kara, deep in conversation with her, Thea could only roll her eyes. Even though William wasn’t technically 13 yet, she couldn’t help but say it.

 

“Teenagers.”


	2. The Three-Way Tri Fold Prank: Action

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summary: It's April Fool's Day. There's a new prankster on the loose, and he's about to paint the day GREEN.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After careful consideration, I've decided to make this a one shot series.
> 
> Fair warning, I have no idea what Oliver Queen does as a morning routine, so bear with me please.
> 
> Oh and Disclaimer (cover your ears) I DON'T OWN ARROW OR ANY OF THE CW CHARACTERS!

 

It was a nice normal Sunday, a perfect dawn for the day of Mischief-April Fools. But in the Queen residence, in Star City, a sneaky devil was at work, carefully trekking around the house as he put his plan, The Three-Way-Tri Fold Prank, to motion.

His target? Mayor Oliver Queen aka The Green Arrow aka his dear old Dad.

William Clayton was thankful he decided to wear his socks, otherwise his father, who was sleeping peacefully with Felicity would have heard his footsteps. He had to admit, as a son, seeing his father sleep next to the woman he loved was sweet. But as a kid who was still a pre-teen, seeing two people even kiss was….disturbing.

Choosing to ignore the sleeping lovebirds, William reached into his black coat (he was wearing all black, even a ski mask as he didn't have a full costume-and probably never would) and pulled out of the pockets, a can or aerosol whipped cream.

"Phase One." He mumbled under his breath, low enough so his highly trained father wouldn't hear.

Wearing a grin that would have made Damian Darkh weep with joy, he carefully sprayed one word onto Oliver's forehead:

DORK

 _And I'm just getting started._ William thought to himself as he took out his phone and took a picture of his "masterpiece".  _Now for Phase 2._

Putting the phone and aerosol can back into his pockets, he fished out some pepper and sprinkled it onto his father's nose. In a split second, just as Oliver was starting to sneeze, the teenage boy made a break for it, his sock-covered feet allowing him to glide across the floor, leaving William to somersault out of the doorframe's view once he got out of the room.

"Oliver?" He heard Felicity's groggy voice through the open door.

 _Crap._ The pre-teen's blood ran cold.  _They_ _ **never**_   _leave their door open._ Thinking quickly, he made a break for it for his room. It was a good thing he didn't wear his sneakers, otherwise his dad would hear him.

Speaking of whom. Oliver had already leapt out of bed, after rubbing his nose, and walked towards to the open door to see who was out in the hallway.

"Oliver, relax." said Felicity, checking her tablet. "The alarms are still functioning and besides that, everything seems normal."

When he turned around, she could not stop herself from laughing even if she wanted to.

"What?" asked Oliver confused.

"You've got…" She was clutching her ribs from laughing so hard. "You've got a little something…"

Furrowing his eyebrows, Oliver walked to the mirror and rolled his eyes at the creamy display. Chuckling his wiped it off and went to put on his workout clothes, to start on his morning jog.

"Whatever that was." Oliver finished tying his shoelaces. "it wasn't the worst April Fool's I've had."

"Wasn't the worst?" Felicity questioned.

"Trust me." said Oliver, looking at the ground in sadness. "If Tommy were around, he'd still be the King of April Fools."

* * *

After his morning workout ended, he came back, had a good breakfast and then went into the bathroom to take his morning shower.

When Thea came in, she noticed William eating some breakfast. Since Felicity couldn't cook, he toasted some waffles.

"Hey kiddo." She fist bumped him and he returned the gesture. "How's my favorite nephew?"

"Whatcha doing here?" William asked.

"Just need to hand some papers that need some signing to your dad." Thea replied just as Felicity walked in.

"Hey." William shot up eagerly. "Is Dad still in the shower?"

"Uh, yes." said Felicity confused. Thea eyed him suspiciously.

"Good." He smiled, sitting back down. This unnerved Felicity even more.

'Why?" Thea asked. "You always wash before breakfast."

William gave a Cheshire Cat smile. "Because any minute now, Dad is going to see his minty fresh hairstyle."

"William!" An irritated voice sounded from upstairs.

The smiling Queen Junior turned to Felicity and said, "I think he saw it."

Sighing in exasperation, Thea turned to face her nephew. "William, what did you do?"

"Don't ask that." Oliver marched down wearing a grey sweatshirt. "Care to explain?"

"For the sake of April Fools?" William smiled, getting Oliver to rub his temples.

"Let me see." Thea ripped off the hood to reveal the true intention of the Three-Way Tri Fold Prank.

Instead of Oliver's hair being it's usual golden blonde, it was a bright neon green. And his face was starting to look tomato red as Thea started howling with laughter. She was pretty sure she had busted her spleen from the sheer hilarity of the situation.

"Happy April Fools." William said between laughter as he took a photo.

"I  **have** to take a photo of this!" Thea exclaimed.

"Oh and Dad?" William asked. "I like the new coloring, although you should thank me for your  _sneezing_ start to the day."

This only caused the two women and William himself to clutch their sides in laughter, while Oliver was still fuming in embarrassment. It wasn't the pranks that unnerved him, it was the fact that his own baby boy had managed to prank a trained assassin undetected and almost get away with it. Almost. He was the Green Arrow,  **no one** would dare to prank him. Case in point, Curtis. He was still debating whether to ground William for humiliating him like this or to simply have a chat with him. But one thing was clear, he would  **not** be further humiliated.

Instead, he picked option 3 and grabbed his wallet.

"Where are you going?" Felicity asked.

"To fix what happened!" Oliver proclaimed as he went out. "Oh and William, son?" His green head peered through the door. "Don't think this is over." He smiled mischievously as he left.

"Ooh William." Thea chided. "Now you've done it."

"What?" William asked.

"If I'm right and there's still that part in him that exists," said Thea. "Oliver will prank you back, but much better and worse than you can imagine. But since you're his son, I'll bet he'll go easy."

This time, it was William's turn to laugh. "Please. My dad, Oliver Serious Queen, a prankster? I don't see it."

"I could tell you stories." said Thea. "Especially with Tommy."

"Really?" Felicity asked. "Tell me."

Thea couldn't help herself as she started to tell the duo Oliver's days as a prankster with his best friend Tommy.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's it for now. This'll be a two part one shot. And I hope you enjoyed this! Don't think for a second that William will not face the consequences (smiles evilly)
> 
> I LOVE William Clayton's character because there's so much you can do with him and I just can't wait for season 6. If there's one thing I can never resist, it's family moment between parents and their kids :)


	3. The Three Way Tri-Fold Prank: Revenge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summary: On April Fool’s Day, William may have turned his father’s hair green, but even he is not safe from Oliver’s old pranking days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Arrow season 6 premiere was worth the 5 months of the long agonizing wait. It was so awesome!
> 
> Oh and guys, I have no idea how one dyes their hair since I’ve never gone to a salon to dye my hair, so just bear with me.

 

Oliver Queen was humiliated. Not only had the rest of his team seen his embarrassing photo from breakfast, his own son had tricked him into buying the perfect catalyst for disguising green hair dye.

_Flashback_

 

_1 week before April 1st, the Queens were out shopping for groceries. And since they went shopping once in a while, so William wouldn’t live on TV dinners and take-out, the Queen scion seized his chance._

 

_“Hey Dad.” said William._

 

_“Hmm?” Oliver replied once they were in the soap aisle._

 

_“Did you know Felicity likes mint?” William asked._

 

_“No I didn’t.” said Oliver. “Why, you planning on getting her some gum?”_

 

_“No.” said William. “Since you two are...lovey dovey, why don’t you impress her more, with this?” He waved a bottle of conditioner._

 

_Oliver laughed. “I don’t need scented conditioner. I’m fine.”_

 

_“Ok, if you say so.” said William. “But I know for a fact that greasy hair is a dead giveaway for your” He lowered his voice to a whisper “Nightly activities, and I’d hate for anyone to wonder, why isn’t the Mayor taking care of himself? Why does he smell like sweat after every night?” Oliver was left dumbstruck while his son went to pick up some soap of his own._

 

_After pondering for a few moments on this, he went and put the mint scented conditioner in the shopping cart. He figured, ‘why not? If it’s worth protecting my identity. Besides, I gotta do something about the grease on my pillow.’_

 

_If he had taken a second’s glance at William, he would have noticed a devilish smirk creep upon his face._

 

_“Perfect.” William whispered._

Oliver dragged his hand down his face. He was glad that his son was recovering from what happened at Lian Yu. William had certainly grown and was now in the teen years, where literally anything could happen. Oliver guessed that it somehow included William developing his father’s persuasive tongue as well as his late grandmother’s.

 

Sure, it was just conditioner, but the mention of his night activities as the Green Arrow hit a nerve, and he bought it, literally. What Oliver failed to realize was that April Fool’s was right around the corner and the soap was disguised as a bright green, perfect for disguising hair dye. Although he would have to ask his son where he got it in the first place.

 

 _How could I be so naive,_ Oliver thought as he parked in the hair salon. _I’ve gone up against Mirakuru soldiers, a psychopath who was literally 10 steps ahead in everything but I never imagined that a child would actually pull a prank like this right under my nose. Especially my own._

 

For the millionth time, his phone chimed with a text from Rene.

 

_You sure you’re not reading Green Eggs and Ham, Hoss?_

 

Oliver rolled his eyes as he put on his ski cap and went inside the salon.

Monica’s Hair and Nails was at a busy day, tending to clients with appointments. It was a good thing that he thought of wearing a ski cap to the salon. Otherwise, the media would have a field day with his green hair. Besides, if Cisco or Barry, or even Sara saw him with his hair, there was no way they were gonna let him live this down.

 

“Mr. Mayor?” One of the receptionists walked up to him. “What can we do for you today?”

 

“The first thing I would like is a hair bleaching that is shielded from human eyes.” said Oliver.

 

“Why?” The receptionist, whose name was Stacey from her name tag.   


“Can we go back?” Oliver asked, embaressed. Stacey nodded and lead him to the office where he took off his ski cap.

 

“Oh.” Stacey blanched. “Oh dear God.” A smile was barely itching to decorate her face.

 

“Go ahead.” said Oliver nonchalantly. “Laugh.”

 

“No, it’s ok.” By now Stacey was giggling. “I can’t give you any privacy if we’re gonna dye your hair back so…”

 

“Yeah, I thought so.” Oliver nodded grimly.

 

Once Stacey got him acquainted with the first step of dying his hair, she told him to wait for Monica, who was going to help him with his situation. Unfortunately, what she couldn’t help was the giggling from other customers passing by. Oliver had survived five years of hell, but as the mayor of Star City, how could he not feel embarrassed to go out in public looking like a patch of grass had grown on his head? And on April Fools? Oliver would rather deal with Isabel Rochev than this.

 

 _Maybe I should ground William?_ He thought to himself. _No, that’s too harsh._   


“Well, well, well.” A Latin accent rang out. “What do we have here?”

 

“Three words.” Oliver groaned out. “April Fools Day.”

 

“I see.” Monica led him to the sink to wash his hair. “Let me guess, someone smuggled hair dye in your shampoo?”

 

“How did you know?” Oliver asked.

  
“Because my wife did the same thing once.” said Monica. “I was mad, embarrassed, and annoyed. But I forgave her and I got her back.”

 

“What did you do?” Oliver asked eagerly.

 

Before Monica could turn on the water, she whispered, “I turned her trick against her.”

 

Just by those words, an idea for fun revenge took hold in Oliver’s mind.

**The next morning…**

 

When Felicity was having breakfast, she was waiting for Oliver to come down. He had come back last night, with his hair it’s infamously charming golden blonde again, and he had told Felicity that he was going to give William a taste of his own medicine. Judging from what happened earlier that morning, she knew better than to ask.

 

“Hey Felicity.” Oliver came down and kissed her on the cheek.

 

“Where’s William?” She asked.

 

“Brushing his teeth.” said Oliver. “I told him I had a surprise waiting downstairs.” He took out a plate of chocolate chip pancakes from the fridge and set them in the microwave.

 

“What did you do?” Felicity asked.

 

“What I said.” He sat down with a proud smirk on his face. “Gave him a taste of his own medicine.”

 

And boy, did Oliver give his son just that. William walked into the kitchen, only to be greeted by Felicity almost choking on her food with laughter at the sight of him.

 

“What?” The boy asked. Oliver smiled amusedly and handed his son a mirror, just to get almost a girly scream from him.

 

William’s hair had been dyed bright blue and on his cheeks were the words, written in Sharpie: NICE TRY

 

“DAD!” He almost shouted.

 

“I’m sorry.” Oliver laughed at his blushing son. “Here, as an apology, I’ve gotten your favorite.”

 

“I’m not hungry actually.” said William.

 

“It’s just a peace offering.” said Oliver, piling whipped cream on the pancake. “Come on, it’s just whipped cream.”

 

William stared longingly at the mountain of whipped cream. He knew there was something about to go wrong, but he had **never** been allowed this much whipped cream. Humiliated again, probably, but worth it to eat that much sugar.

 

He sat down, and got his knife and fork to eat his breakfast. He didn’t see his father’s finger press a button as the enormous amount of whipped cream exploded with a loud BANG, covering William's entire head and torso with the sticky fluff. Some of the windows were splattered as well as some of Felicity’s hair and face, but it was William who ended up taking the most amount.

 

“Nice.” He could only say.

 

Oliver chuckled and whispered to him. “Thanks for the inspiration.”

 

“How did?” Felicity asked.

 

“Courtesy of Curtis Holt.” said Oliver. “I told you this wasn’t over, William.” he ruffled his son’s messy hair. “Love you.”

 

“Ugh.” William wiped his face with his hands. He was utterly humiliated. But he wasn’t giving up. The prank war of the Queens was put on hold. But one day, one day he would get his father.

 

  



	4. What's My Name?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To William, what was in a name? The blood that runs in your veins or the sins your family has committed?

********William Clayton.

 

He stopped when he put his name on his math homework. Lately, he had been wonder what his last name should be.

 

 _William Queen._ He thought to himself. _That’s a nice ring._

 

What had really unnerved William about his name in the past few months, was the fact that his middle name was Robert. His grandmother, Anna Clayton suggested to his mom when she had William, to give him something to remember his absentee father.

 

“Just in case.” Samantha had told him the story. She was careful enough to leave his father’s name out.

 

Father. William never had a father, and the word seemed strange to him. When he was 6 he had asked his mother where he was. She had told him that he was lost at sea. But William got the feeling then that maybe, just maybe, he might have been an accident. He had actually said that to his mother once and she sat him down.

 

“You are nothing but the best son that any mother could ask for.” said Samantha. “And anyone who says otherwise is an idiot.”

 

Now at the age of 12, William knew he wasn’t created like most kids his age were. He may have been young but he was a smart kid. Smart enough to research the Queen Family and the Green Arrow after Oliver had taken him in, just to know who he was living with. Being both intrigued by their lavish lifestyle and horrified by the crimes they committed, he was torn inside.

 

As a kid, he was always curious about what it was like to have a dad. But now that he did, he cursed his child self for being naive.

 

One would expect him to have gotten over it by now. But that’s what most people didn’t get about the boy. Here was William, a 12 year old child, who first had his world turned upside down when a man with a missing hand kidnapped him and then had to leave his friends and the home he was raised in behind without really knowing why. Then a year later, he was kidnapped again, this time finding out his missing father was literally his hero, but at the cost of the only parent he had ever known and loved. On top of that, finding out that his father’s name was Queen, came with the terrible truth that William was born from a line of criminals and murderers.

 

How does one get over that, no matter how much time it takes?

 

To William, what was in a name? Just the blood that runs in your veins or the sins your family has committed? Clayton or Queen, William was still his mother’s son, that much was clear. His father? William was still making up his mind about what to call him. ****  


But who was he? William Robert Clayton, Illegetimate Son of Oliver Queen or William Robert Queen, Son of the Green Arrow?

 

"What's my name?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this wasn’t your typical fluffy one-shot. I’m sorry if this sucked.


	5. Curse You Puberty!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> William thinks having your voice crack is the worst thing that can happen to anyone. But it's not until he gets tutoring from a girl that he realizes how lucky he is to be a boy when going through puberty.
> 
> BTW, today's my 18th birthday, so enjoy this weird chapter!

* * *

"William! Breakfast!" His father called him. Grabbing his notepad, he didn't have a phone yet, William trotted past his wooden door and made his way to the table to have some of Oliver Queen's famous eggs.

"Hey Buddy." His dad greeted cheerfully.

 _Hey Dad_. He wanted to say to him. It wasn't that he was so upset he couldn't speak, he was too embarrassed to do so. Instead, he smiled and nodded at his dad.

"Buddy, what's wrong?" Oliver asked almost immediately.

William took his pen and wrote on his notepad, 'Can't talk. Throat sore.' He handed it to Oliver who read it and then looked at William with skepticism.

"Really?" He asked. "Cause I can tell when you're sick and I know I can because I took care of you the last two times you were sick." He pressed his hand against his son's forehead, to find no fever. "It's Saturday and you say you're sick?"

William clicked his pen and wrote down, 'If you understand the pain of puberty you would know why I can't speak.'

Oliver looked at the notepad and his face morphed into one of amusement. "I see. Let me guess, is your voice making people laugh because it cracks from time to time?"

"Yes." William's voice sounded like a whistle that was clogged. Oliver chuckled slightly to his son's embarrassment. "I knew you would laugh."

"It'll last for some time but it'll go away, I promise." His father hugged him. "Trust me, I couldn't say a few words in front of your grandma or aunt without them wanting to laugh. Now, quit whining about your voice and get ready. We're going out for groceries, remember?"

"As long as I don't talk to anyone." said William.

"Hey don't worry." Oliver faced his son. "I'll do the talking, ok?

William groaned, heading to his room and shouting, "Puberty sucks!"

Oliver only chuckled and said, "Been there before."

Oliver silently thanked whatever deity was above for not having to give his son the birds and bees yet. He was lucky William needed to start wearing deodorant and his voice was cracking. But when it came to the sex talk, it could take 10 minutes, or 10 years.

"Oh and Dad?" William's cracking voice rang out. "Don't tell Felicity about this when she comes to tutor me."

"No problem, buddy."

* * *

"What's wrong with his voice?" Felicity asked that night.

Oliver leaned in and whispered, "Voice crack." Unfortunately, William could hear it and he was literally itching to unleash a string of obscenities at his father (Thank you, 7th grade class.).

But he didn't, because A, he would get an express ticket to a month of grounding and B, he was too embarrassed to speak anyway.

"Aw." Felicity cooed, brushing William's hair. "Don't worry, you boys don't have it as bad as girls when it comes to puberty."

 _Easy for you girls to say_. William thought to himself.  _Your face isn't itchy, and you don't have constant reminders to shave._

"I will be right back." said Oliver. "You too, have fun with math." The couple leaned in for a kiss and Oliver left the apartment.

"Ok, kiddo." said Felicity. "Where do you wanna start?"

William took his notepad and wrote,  _How about number 15?_

Felicity read it and said, "You know, you're gonna have to speak eventually."

"Why should I?" The voice that sounded like a scratchy record slipped out of his throat. But to make things worse, Felicity started to giggle, only just a little. "See. it was embarrassing enough in school!"

"Oh don't worry." said Felicity. "Girls have it much worse."

"How?" William asked rhetorically. "What could possibly be worse than this?"

"Well our voices don't crack, but…" Felicity scratched the back of her head. "Nah, you don't wanna know. Ever"

"Try me." The boy challenged daringly.

"No." said Felicity. "Your father will kill me if I tell you an-don't you use the puppy eyes at me, young man!"

It was too late as William gave his best shot and put on his face that made his old teachers back in Central City melt with adoration. William may have been 13, but he had his father's and aunt's special puppy eye powers. Oliver never did it anymore after he went on the  _Gambit_ , but Thea used to do it quite often. Boy did it work, every single time.

After a long intense battle, Felicity groaned and gave in. "Ok, don't say I didn't warn you."

She leaned in and began to explain what a period was and why girls had it. It was only by the first 10 seconds of the topic at the first mention of blood, that William ran out and shut the door to his room.

"Oh." Felicity rubbed her temples. "For sure, Oliver is gonna kill me."

* * *

When William closed his room from the outside world, he jumped in his bed, and screamed into his pillow,

"CURSE YOU, PUBERTY!"

At least he now knew how Dr. Doofenshmirtz felt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry if this was cringey


	6. Mess With The Wolf, You Get The Fangs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> William can handle school bullies, he’s a tough kid after all. But when one of them crosses a line that should never be crossed, William teaches them a painful lesson to more than the nose.
> 
> BTW, This is the best translation in Arabic for grandson I could find so please don’t be mad at me.

**** William was changing for gym class, changing into his shorts when  **he** came. His arch nemesis, Dylan Evans. It wasn’t to Willam’s surprise that his two friends decided to pay him a visit as well.

 

“Well, well well.” Dylan sneered. “If it isn’t the Prince of Star City.”

 

“Well, well, well.” William retorted. “If it isn’t the Village Idiot.”

 

“Seems you got a backbone.” said Dylan. “Don’t make me break it.

 

“Look, I really don’t have time for this.” William walked past the 8th graders.

 

“Then make the time.” Jacob, Dylan’s friend huffed. 

 

“Like I said,” William walked down the gym locker hall. “I have to get to class.”

 

He would have made it past the door if Dylan hadn’t opened his mouth and said;

 

“You know what the difference is? Between me and you, at least my mom didn’t drop dead!”

 

That sentence alone was enough to literally knock the air out of him. Dylan’s friend, Jacob was making side comments but the only things William could hear were the the sounds of his bones popping as he clenched his fist and his own breath that was becoming more ragged with each passing one.

 

Clenching his teeth, he turned around and quickly got the 8th graders’ attention with a cold fury that would have made him worthy of Hafid Al Ghul or Grandson of the Demon.

 

_ Find the biggest one, walk right up to him and punch him in the nose as hard as you possibly can.  _

 

Out of his anger, William did more than just that.

* * *

 

The next thing William knew, once he snapped out his rage, he was sitting in front of the principal’s office, one bench far from Kyle and Jacob, who both had bandages and bruising on the face. Kyle was holding a large piece of tissue on his nose, had a bandage wrapped around his head and a cast on his arm. Jacob was propping his broken ankle, had two black eyes and a bandage wrapped around his head.

 

Now who’s to say William made it out unscathed? He also had a bloody nose, bruising on his torso and face, and was using his other hand to ice his head that had been rammed into a locker at one point. 

 

But overall, William managed to take down two 8th graders single handed. He didn’t know if his father would be proud of him or disappointed. But frankly, he didn’t give a damn. Insults of him, he could take, but when someone even  **dares** to bring up someone close to him, like his deceased mother, he would unleash hell without question.

 

Bottom line for the bullies; mess with the wolf, you get the fangs. Or a fist in this case.

 

“Boys.” Principal Martin came through the door. “Not you, William.” 

 

Shaking in terror at the sight of William, the 8th graders made their way inside, leaving William in the empty hallway. Until a certain mayor kneeled in front of William.

 

“William.” Oliver’s voice carried a tone of disappointment with a hint of worry. “What happened?”

 

The 12 year old simply turned his head away from his father. “Buddy, I know you’re having a hard time in school so-”

 

“They insulted my mom.” The boy finally spoke.

 

That took Oliver by surprise. “What?”

 

“They insulted my mom. They said she just dropped dead.”

 

That certainly hit home for Oliver, and his own mother died right before his eyes. Part of Oliver was proud of his son, for defending his mother’s memory and another was confused as to what he should do to discipline his son. He understood perfectly why William was so angry but as a single dad still fresh in the world of parenting, he had no idea how to respond.

 

“William.” The principal called, once the boys walked out. 

 

After William went inside the principal’s office, Oliver decided that it was time to have a little talk with the boys that had been causing his son so much grief.

 

“Boys.” Instantly they turned around and felt their insides freeze at the sight of the mayor walking towards them with an angry expression. 

 

“Mr. Mayor.” Jacob started. “I-”

 

Oliver put his hand up, it was his time to speak. “Let me ask you a question boys. How much do you love your parents?”

 

“Of course, who doesn’t?” Jacob replied. “A lot.” said Dylan.

 

“Then how would you like it if they suddenly died?” At that moment, Dylan felt like a tiny ant under someone’s foot. “Here’s something to remember boys; Not everyone has two parents, let alone a mother, so think about that the next time you open your mouth and say something stupid. Who knows?” He looked at Dylan straight in the eye. “It could be someone close to you that drops dead.”

 

“Oliver?” William was standing behind him, apparently having heard the conversation.

 

“Yeah buddy?” He replied.

 

“I’ve been suspended for a week.” He said dejectedly. “Let’s just go home.”

 

“Couldn’t agree with you more.” Oliver took William to his car, driving away from Star City Middle without any further question.

* * *

On the way back, Oliver said aloud to his son, “William, I understand why you did what you did. But when I said you should go for the nose, I meant if they attack you. Normally, it would be petty if you had attacked them because they made fun of your hair or something. But they should never,  **ever** have crossed that line.” He was met with dead silence as his son took the lecture in.

 

“So you’re mad at me?” He asked.

 

After a burdening silence, Oliver replied, “No. I’m proud of you. Although your method did have extreme results, you showed them that nobody messes with William Clayton’s family. I would have probably done the same thing.”

 

A smile barely tugged at William’s closed lips. “Thanks.” 

 

“But the good news is, I just figured out how you’re gonna spend your quote, unquote, vacation.” said Oliver once they stopped at a red light. “I will not have you spend all day playing video games.”

 

“I wasn’t going to, but that is a great idea.” William flashed his puppy eyes at his father.

 

“Nice try.” Oliver chuckled. “Get ready son, because you’re looking at your new teacher, for Self Defense 101. Every day in the Bunker, for 2 hours. And I don’t wanna hear any whining about going.”

 

William groaned softly. “Kill me now.” He dramatically flopped down to the seat to Oliver’s amusement.

****  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is something that has been on my mind for a while and I figured, why not? Also this is during the early times of Oliver being a parent for William, so I just hope I got Oliver’s way of handling the situation right.


	7. The Talk Part 1: Caught in The Act

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s Saturday afternoon, during William’s baseball practice, Oliver and Felicity get a little busy (wink wink) and are unaware that it’s still raining outside and he’s on his way home, with Oliver and Felicity still in bed...together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, I’m back! I’m sorry I’ve been away for so long, school’s been pretty busy.

“Oh God.” Felicity breathed as Oliver continued sucking on a certain spot at her neck. She could never get enough of the god in human form that was Oliver Queen. She let out a breathy moan as Oliver’s hand snaked down her thighs.

 

It was 3:30 in the afternoon so that meant William was at baseball practice for his school’s team, leaving the couple to spend as much time as they wanted with each other, at least for an hour before William arrived home with Rene dropping him off, since Raisa was visiting family.

 

“I missed this.” Oliver nipped at her ear. “Us.” He continued embracing her in a deep kiss, just to distract her long enough so he could position himself to thrust into her.

 

“OH GOD!: Felicity shouted when he placed a finger inside her.

 

Oliver smirked at her reaction was until he heard Rene’s voice shouting in a panicked tone, “No, No! Don’t go in there!”

 

Oliver tried to make the bed sheets cover him and Felicity but just as Felicity raked her fingernails down his back, they both turned their heads to see a very horrified William Clayton.

 

“What’s wro-oh!” Felicity let out a scream as she covered her entire body, including her face from the kid’s view. But it was too late, as William just stood there, not too sure exactly what was happening but he knew it was stuff adults did, and it was just beyond awkward for him to handle. 

 

“William, this isn’t-” 

 

“Part of me wants to ask.” William cut his father off. “The other part says knowing will make this...stuff, more disturbing than it needs to be. I’m going away now.

 

When he was out of sight, Felicity and Oliver could only look at at each other in embarrassment.

 

“Remind me to set up a passcode lock for the door.” Oliver commented to himself as he moved to put on some shorts.

It took all of five minutes to put on the clothes that had been shedded off during their sex romp, until Felicity spoke,

 

“Just to be clear, he does understand what this is, right?” 

 

Just that question alone, made Oliver want to face Malcolm Merlyn in combat than have to sit his own child, who was almost 13, and explain to him the purpose of sex and what it means to males.

 

“I’m not sure Felicity.” said Oliver. “Frankly I hope it never comes to that point where I have to sit him down and...explain.”

 

It was thanks to the addictive power of ecstasy via sex and alcohol that William was conceived so how could he explain this whole concept to a 12 year old child without making it sound as awkward as it is?

 

“Just ask him what he knows.” said Felicity. “And ask which talk he’s had.”

 

“What?” asked Oliver confused. “What are you talking about? I thought there was one. My dad gave me only one talk.”

 

Felicity rolled her eyes. “You got lucky. I was 12 when I got the puberty and I was 16 when I got the sex talk. Both of which were unpleasant but totally necessary.”

When the couple left the room, they found Rene pacing with a concerned expression written on his face.

 

“Before you say anything Hoss, practice was cancelled because of the rain so I took him back earlier.” said Rene.

 

“It’s ok, Rene.” said Oliver. “Where’s William?”

 

“He’s in the bathroom.” Rene pointed to the door closing off said room from the world. “Cleansing his eyes.” He noticed Oliver giving him a look that said, “Seriously?”

 

“What?” Rene shrugged his shoulders. “That’s what he said.”

Oliver had seen many things in his life that had taken him by surprise. But he didn’t expect to see his son leaning into a sink full of water, wearing a snorkel mask so he could breathe. Apparently he didn’t wear the goggles that came with the mask because he wanted to “cleanse his eyes”.

 

Deciding he needed to talk to him, Oliver pulled William out, his brown hair sticking to head. 

 

“Thanks for pulling me out of the zone.” said William irritably. “I was zoning very well and you ruined it.”

 

“What are you doing?” Oliver asked, handing his son a towel to wipe his face.

 

“Getting some dirt out of my eyes.” William only responded, wiping his eyes. “Thanks to you, I’m disturbed on every level. And seeing Lian Yu blow up with my mom in it scarred me for life.

 

“I’m sorry, William.” said Oliver. “I didn’t realize practice was canceled. I should have paid attention and I didn’t even know it was still raining. But William, I’m so sorry, you stumbled upon...it. Look, this is awkward.”

 

“It’s not your fault.” said William. “I just need you to swear to never speak of this again.”

 

“That’s reasonable.” Oliver replied. “Do you wanna get a new shirt?” He gestured to William’s soaked shirt.

 

“No, I’m gonna stay in here for a couple of more hours.”

 

“Ok.” Oliver drawled out slowly. “And how long do you plan on being underwater?”

 

“Until the image that is burned in my mind is nonexistent.” His son could only respond dryly.

 

As Oliver started to turn around, he asked his son without thinking, “For both of our sakes, at least you do know what a condom is, right?”

 

William’s face immediately turned a tomato red. “I’ve heard of the word and I don’t know what it is. But I’m going to cleanse both my eyes and ears now.”

 

Putting his snorkel back in for breathing, he dipped his head back in the water, leaving his father to wonder, how the hell was he gonna have this conversation with his own son when he barely had enough experience being a parent as it was?

When Oliver walked back, Rene was still in the living room, and Felicity had apparently left.

 

“Seriously Hoss?” Rene asked. “Asking him about a condom? He’s 12 for God’s sake!”

 

“In my defense, I’ve never had a kid before, and I’ve certainly never raised one.” Oliver retorted. “How else was I supposed to ask him about it?”

 

“You couldn’t have just asked him “Do you know what sex is?”

 

“Honestly Rene.” He brushed his hand against his face. “I don’t know what the hell I’m gonna do now.”

 

“Well my advice is this,” said Rene. “Make it simple but never quick. The more he knows, the better. Trust me.”

 

“That won’t make him feel better.” Oliver mumbled. “He’s already mortified as it is.”

 

“Then tell him Uncle Rene said this: Say goodbye to action figures and hello to shaving.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is something that has been on my mind for a while and I figured, why not? Also this is again during the early times of Oliver being a parent for William, so I just hope I got Oliver’s way of handling the situation right. Also I hope this wasn’t too weird, again.


	8. The Talk: Part 2: Sitting Him Down

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s become clear to one Oliver Jonas Queen that his son has not been educated in the male reproductive ways, and since he’s a Queen by blood, there are two reasons why William will not escape the Talk. Not this time.
> 
> Oh and Disclaimer (cover your ears) I DON'T OWN ARROW OR ANY OF THE CW CHARACTERS!

 

To say the Mayor of Star City was in trouble, would be a profound understatement. Just a few days ago, it became clear that while his son understood the measures of puberty, he had no idea how sex worked.

 

And that was the last conversation he wanted to have with his son. It was bad enough William had known his father for a few months, but he was sure Samantha would have explained it by now to him. William had certainly grown a few inches and was losing some of the baby fat Oliver had seen on his cheeks when he was 10. But he had no clue about intimacy and sooner or later he was gonna have to be explained what sex was and how guys handled it. 

 

Oliver knew he was no role model when it came to sex but he might have well been named, the poster man for getting over his man-whore habits. He wasn’t sure whether William was ready to have a girlfriend, but once he did, he would have to know certain boundaries when, or if he was ready to take the next step.

 

_ Look at me _ . Oliver rubbed his temple.  _ I’m probably overstressing this, but what the Hell am I supposed to do?  _

 

“Dad.” He whispered to himself. “I wish you could be here.”

When Oliver went home that night, William was in his room, listening to music and reading a book.

 

Wanting to check up on his son, Oliver slid open the wooden door and said,

 

“Hey Buddy.” It was clear the only sounds William’s ears were listening to, was the music of Fall Out Boy. He knows who they are because once he and Tommy got exclusive tickets to go see them backstage. 

 

“Buddy?” He tapped William’s shoulder. The boy looked up and took off his headphones. 

 

“Hey, Dad.” William closed his book.

 

“You shouldn’t play music that loud.” Oliver chastised. “It’s bad for your ears.”

 

William rolled his eyes. “How was your day?”

“It was good.” said Oliver. “The office was busy as usual. How was yours?”

 

“I had a Spanish quiz.” William responded. “Then I had basketball in gym and I had lasagna for lunch.”

 

“Good.” It was more than that. Oliver had never been so happy to at least feel some kind of normalcy, at least for his kid. For him, though, it was a bit strange since “normal” was never a word in his vocabulary.

 

“Uh...William…”  _ Oh boy, here it goes.  _ “There’s um….something we need to talk about.”

 

“Ok.” William listened closely.

 

“Uh, remember when Felicity and I were….together, together?”  _ Please just get this over with, for both your own sake and your son’s.  _

 

“Uh you know what?” William suddenly sat up. “I have to use the bathroom!”

 

“And I have to make a phone call.” Both men bolted out of the room and Oliver slide the door back.

 

“That went well.” He said to himself.

 

Reaching into his pocket, he scrolled through his contacts until he found the number he was looking for.

 

There was one man he knew who practically had a PhD in parenting young boys.

Joe West was in his home watching a movie with Cecile. It was date night so he was free that night to spend time with his girlfriend.

 

That is until his cell phone rang and the name Oliver Queen flashed on the screen.

 

“Be right back.” Joe said to the woman who was currently munching on pickles dipped in chocolate. “That better be gone when I get back, I don’t know how much I can take seeing your cravings.”

 

“Well be back soon, or else I’ll just eat some of the leftover pasta.” Cecile winked at Joe. He got up, went upstairs and answered.

 

“Hey, Oliver.” Joe answered the phone. “Need some help in Star City?”

 

“No.” Oliver replied. “I just need some help.” Joe could almost hear Oliver dragging his hand across his face. “This is probably going to be the weirdest thing anyone has ever asked you.”

 

“What’s up?” asked Joe.

  
“How do you explain to your son what sex is?” Oliver didn’t even try to make this as not awkward as it sounded.

 

“Oh you came to the right person.” chuckled Joe. “When I was raising Barry, he would get so uncomfortable, he literally bolted from the conversation. It took me weeks and the promise of going to the amusement park, even though it was winter, to get him to finally listen.”

 

“Would ice cream for breakfast work?” Oliver asked.

 

Joe laughed at that. “Uh, I was thinking dinner but whatever gets him to listen works.”

 

“Thank you Joe.” said Oliver.

 

“Can I give you some advice?” Joe asked.

 

Oliver nodded. “Yeah?”

 

“I know you weren’t exactly a good boy when you were a teenager, but don’t make it as awkward for yourself as it is gonna be for William.” 

 

“Thanks Joe.” Oliver hung up, and had already begun devising a plan.

Wiliam woke up groggily, it was a Sunday morning after all. After brushing his teeth, he sauntered into the kitchen where he found the biggest ice cream sundae he had ever seen, waiting for him on the table in all it’s chocolaty glory. His eyes widened to the size of dinner plates and he was drooling.

  
“You like it?” Oliver asked from behind him, who was also dressed in his PJ’s.

 

“Is that for me?” William asked almost like a little kid would.

 

“Yep buddy it is.” Oliver laughed. “That’s your breakfast.”

 

“Awesome!” William made a beeline for the sundae but before he could grab it with his hungry hands, his father was faster.

 

“But.” Oliver spoke in a more stricter tone. “There is something you need to do first.” He gestured to the couch while he put the humongous dessert in the fridge.

“Ok.” William said to Oliver, who then sat down.

 

“William, I love you.” said Oliver. “But it’s become clear to me that while you may understand puberty, you don’t know anything about sex. So this is gonna suck for the both-”

 

“Oh my God, that’s spider’s huge!” William pointed to Oliver’s blonde head and ran as fast as he could to the fridge and was close to opening it when a hand twice his size closed the door.

 

“Did you really think I was gonna fall for that?” 

 

William felt himself being picked up as his father carried him back to the couch. 

 

“Now listen and learn.” Immediately after that, Oliver dived into the facts of life and told his son what he needed to know, keeping it PG-13 of course. And so with the reward of ice cream, William Clayton was educated enough at the time. 

 

But the next day, Raisa found him in the bathroom, "cleansing his eyes and ears"

 

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is something that has been on my mind for a while and I figured, why not? Also this is again during the early times of Oliver being a parent for William, so I just hope I got Oliver’s way of handling the situation right. Also I hope this wasn’t too weird, again.


	9. Meet your Stepmother

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The celebration for Oliver and Felicity’s marriage is right around the corner, and William is about to learn the big news.

William was playing Injustice 2 in his room, never being more happy that school was closed because of the snowstorm outside. He was munching on a couple of potato chips when the door slid open to reveal his father.

 

“Hey Buddy.” William looked up and waved, then turned his attention back to the game. “It’s 2 pm and you’re still in your PJ’s?”

 

“You dare question the traditions of the young?” William asked in a bravado voice. Oliver could only roll his eyes at his only son, who was a few months shy of becoming a teenager.

 

“Aside from that, could you come outside? Me and Felicity want to talk to you about something.”

 

William looked up with wide eyes filled to the brim with hope. “You got me a skateboard?”

 

Oliver laughed. “Uh, no. Come on, buddy.” Pausing the game, William begrudgingly followed his father out of his room, and he was met with the sight of his favorite math tutor.

 

“Hey Felicity.” He greeted the blonde, who in turn smiled and waved at him. “So, if you didn’t get me a skateboard, what’s this about?”

 

“Well William,” Felicity began. “Your father and I were away to help our friends, we…”

 

“We got married.” In perfect synchronized motion, both Oliver and Felicity flashed their wedding rings. “We figured we should tell you since, it kind of just happened and Mr. Diggle was our officiant. But it also means Felicity is your stepmother. But we agreed that if you feel you need time to adjust, you can just call her just Felicity.”

 

After a long heavy silence, Felicity asked, “William? Are you ok? You’ve been staring at us for about two minutes.”

 

“Are you kidding me?” He asked. “It’s about damn time!”

 

“Language.” Oliver warned. “So you’re ok with this?”

 

“Does this answer your question?” Immediately William enveloped them in a tight hug, and without question, his new family embraced their little boy. In the midst of the falling snow outside and the victory from the recent battle against the forces of Earth X, nothing could divide their family. From hell to high water, no enemy could sever the forming bonds of two parents and their child. 

  
  
  



	10. Are You Sure You're Felicity's Mom?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Donna Smoak loves kids, so what happens when she meets her step-grandson?

The bell rang at Star City Middle School and immediately kids started pouring out like water overflooding a dam. Among those kids, was William Clayton who was heading to the front of the school to be picked up by his Auntie Thea.

 

“Hey Thea.” He said to the brunette woman.

 

“Come here.” She hugged her small nephew. “Sorry your dad couldn’t be here, since he and Felicity are planning the party and there’s also business but Auntie Thea’s here.”

 

“Yes I can see that.” William remarked dryly.

 

Thea rolled her eyes and opened the car. “Get in, kid.”

 

On their way home, William’s phone buzzed and he opened it to see a text from his dad reading, 

 

_ When she comes, be on your best behavior. _

 

His brows furrowed in confusion and asked, “Who’s this she?”

 

“She, my small minion.” Thea answered. “Is your grandmother. Or step-grandmother. She’s Felicity’s mother and she just flew in for the party but she’s stopping by today to see you. So you better be on your best behavior.”

 

William scoffed. “Why, is she one of those grandmas who loves cats and sits next to the fireplace while knitting thousands of sweaters?”

 

Thea laughed loudly, gripping the steering wheel. “Buddy, you’re talking about the wrong family. Trust me, she’s been waiting for a grandkid since forever. At least that’s what Felicity says.”

 

“And by the way,” William piped up. “Since when am I your minion? I’m not even that small!”

 

“Get used to it, William.” Thea retorted. “You’re 12, still growing and my nephew. Deal with it.”

 

“My family can’t be this annoying.” William grumbled.

 

“If you think I’m bad, just wait till you meet Donna Smoak.” She turned her head around to meet William’s annoyed face when they stopped at a red light. “She’s is gonna eat you alive.

After 20 minutes of being home and accompanied by Thea and Raisa, he heard a knocking at the door. Putting down his pencil and homework, the pre teen made his way to the door and opened it to find a blond woman wearing a white fur coat, which William was pretty sure wasn’t even real fur. She had blonde hair, some makeup and was wearing some kind of boots that looked like fashionable winter boots.

 

“Hello, young man.” Donna Smoak smiled. “I’m Donna Smoak, and you’re William, right?”

 

_ She doesn’t seem so bad.  _ He thought to himself. “Yep that’s me. Come in.” 

 

Just like that, Donna let out the biggest girly scream William had ever heard and still held onto her suit case as she walked in and squeezed the life out of him with just one arm.

 

“Oh I’ve waited for this moment forever!” She squealed. “It’s so fantastic to meet my grandbaby at last!”

  
_ And I stand corrected.  _ “Um, Grandma.” He rasped out from the pressure on his lungs.

 

“Oh you called me Grandma!” Donna let out another squeal. “I love you already!” From the kitchen, Thea was snickering, wishing her brother could see this.

 

“Um, I kinda can’t breathe!” He heard the door close and he was released instantly, thanking his luck that his ribs didn’t break.

 

“Just look at you!” She cooed at him, kneeling down to his height and cupping his cheeks. “You’re so handsome, just like your father! You must have a lot of girl knocking down your door! Or boys, whatever works for you!”   
  


William took a close look at her and he saw some wrinkles but she was still young and jubilant, which made him smile a little. Maybe it was the make up or the stylish clothes that she wore, but to him, she looked  **way** to young to be his grandmother. Maybe his aunt?

 

“Exactly how old are you?” He blurted without thinking.

 

“William!” Raisa scolded. “We do not ask women that! Apologize to her please.”

 

“No, no, no! It’s ok.” Donna said. “He just needs some time to get used to me, that’s all.”

 

“I didn’t mean it like that.” said William. “It’s just, you look more like her sister than her mother.”

 

“Oh, boy. Now’s he’s done it.” Thea stage whispered to Raisa.

 

Donna looked like she was gonna burst in tears as she trapped William in a tight hug, so tight William was sure at least his arms were gonna crack.

 

“Look at that.” Donna announced in pride. “It’s been almost 2 minutes and he has that Queen charm. But you know what this boy needs? A haircut.” She combed William’s chocolate colored hair.

 

“Grandma, it’s really-”

 

“It’s really just a small little trim.” Donna flashed her pearly white teeth. “But don’t worry, I know this really good barber downtown, and trust me, you’ll look more handsome and adorable than you already are.”

 

As Donna was grabbing her purse, William turned to his aunt and nanny, mouthing, “Help me!” 

 

“No.” Both women shook their heads and mouthed back.

 

“Alright.” Donna put on her hat then turned her attention to Raisa. “Hey, miss uh…”

  
“Raisa.” The Russian housekeeper replied, while getting a coat, hat and gloves for William. “ my name is Raisa.”

 

“Well it is very nice to meet you Raisa.” Donna shook her hand. 

  
“It is nice to meet you too, Ms. Smoak.” She replied. “And before you ask, I will take care of your suitcase.”

 

“Oh you don’t have to-”

 

“Please.” said Raisa. “I insist. After all, this is a good opportunity for you and William to get to know each other better.”

 

“Oh thank you.” Donna then left with William, who was covered in layers of cloth since it was freezing cold outside, and the duo were off, with Star City being their oyster for the day, as long as William returned to finish his homework of course. But he grew to love his step-grandmother, even if she was like no other. To him, she was just like Felicity, one of the coolest people he had ever met.

 


	11. Star City, We Have a Problem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 15 year old William Clayton is about to commit the unspoken law of Star City: Don’t break the Green Arrow’s weapons

**May, 2020**

 

After arriving home from baseball practice, William went to the kitchen and grabbed a glass so he could fill it with orange juice. He had a tough run of sprints and the coach was extra hard on him. But luckily he had taken lessons in self defense and he was learning how to shoot an arrow so he got some advantage. Still, he’d rather take either his dad or Uncle John over mean old grumpy Coach Mitchell. 

 

Bringing the glass up to his lips, he revealed as he felt the cool drink sprinkle down his throat. He had lost his water bottle and he needed something refreshing so badly. He also needed to sit down, just to relax his legs a little.

 

CRUNCH

 

The millisecond William’s ears picked up that sound when he sat down on the couch, his blood turned to ice.  _ Please tell me that’s not what I think it is. _

 

Rising slowly from his seat, he tenderly picked up one broken half of his father’s dark green metallic bow.

 

Oliver had complained about not finding it that morning, but now William had found it...and broken it.

 

He could only look at the other half and could only say, “I...am a dead man.”

Ignoring the post practice stress burn in his thighs, he ran as fast as his long legs could carry him. In the past 3 years he lived with his father, he had grown quite a few inches at a height of 5’7. Not as tall as either his father, Uncle Barry, Diggle, or Curtis but he was pretty tall for his age.

 

He ran into the abandoned office building and pressed the button for the secret entrance to the Bunker. Once the elevator door opened, he held tight to the bag that held the broken bow and waited impatiently until he came down to the bottom floor (and the only floor).

 

He scanned the green illuminated area until he found a tall man with hair that William still thought a porcupine had lived in.

 

“Curtis!” He ran breathlessly to him.

 

“Hey kiddo.” The bespectacled man put down his T-Spheres. “Whatcha doing?”

 

“Felicity’s busy right now so..” He set down the bag. “Curtis, this has to remain secret with us. Ok, my dad  **cannot** know about this.”

 

“Ok, buddy, what’s wrong?” 

 

Taking a deep breath, the teenager hesitantly reached into his bag and pulled out the broken pieces of the Green Arrow’s bow.

 

Curtis stood there, frozen in shock. He absentmindedly dropped his screwdriver and took the pieces in his hands.

 

“Oh God.” He breathed out. “I knew Oliver had lost this but...Oh my God. If your dad finds out about this, I don’t actually want to think at the moment because I don’t even know what to think! I don’t even know if I can think!”

 

“Curtis!” William yelled. “Focus. I’m not allowed to put a fingerprint this thing, let alone sit on it! Curtis, if we don’t fix it-”

 

“Wait, wait, wait.” Curtis put a hand up and a smile was itching on his lips. “You did what?”

 

“I sat on it but that’s not-”

  
Immediately, Curtis was snickering and it was obvious he was trying to keep it down. “Oh this is kind of terrifying but hilarious. I can’t believe, you actually sat on the Green Arrow’s bow!”

 

“Curtis, focus!” William snapped. “My parents are gonna be back from the office in less than 2 hours, and if they see this.” He waved one half of the broken bow. “They are going to kill me and let me warn you, it shall not be done with mercy.”

 

“Can’t you just call your dad and explained what happened?” Curtis asked. “I mean he won’t get mad at you. Not that he won’t get mad at you for lying, just that he won’t get mad at you for sitting on his bow.”

  
“No, Curtis you don’t get it.” William pleaded. “If my father, THE Green Arrow finds out I sat on his bow, he won’t be angry. He’ll bury me alive and dance on my grave.” He even made his fingers dance to emphasize his point.

 

“Come on, you’re exaggerating.” Curtis exclaimed. “I mean Rene was going to testify against your dad, but now we’ve all learned to trust each other, even you after you learned your dad lied to you. Not in the bad way, which now that I think about it sounds really bad but still,”

 

“Curtis!” William interrupted him. “I get it, thanks. But this is different, this is personal to Dad. I can’t do this to him. Now come on, we don’t have much time.”

 

“Right.” Curtis rubbed his hands together. “Now where’s that superglue?” And just like that, the duo got to work.

Curtis was very friendly to William. When he was younger he didn’t interact too often with him but everytime, they became video game besties and then the relationship grew and they became good friends. Curtis loved kids and William found his sense of humor kind of funny, so they clicked almost instantly. He was almost like Felicity but unlike with his stepmother, when his dad wasn’t around, he could discuss guy things with Curtis and with his help, William learned how to operate the computers in the Bunker when Felicity didn’t want him within 10 feet of the bunker. Of course his father was angry with Curtis but he warmed up to the idea of having his son near such dangerous equipment and that was how William started learning how to use the bow and arrow.

Speaking of which, it took a lot of sweat and elbow grease but they managed to piece back together the Green Arrow’s bow completely, with no complications, no risk of it falling apart and no evidence that it was damaged at all.

 

“Ta,” Curtis started.

 

“Da.” William finished and they high fived each other. But suddenly, William’s phone rang.

 

“Hey Dad.” He answered.

 

“William.” His father’s voice wasn’t too happy. “I just came home and your school bag is still here. Why are you in the bunker and why didn’t you tell any of us, including Raisa?”

 

All the blood ran out of William’s face. He had completely forgotten that his dad asked Curtis to install GPS in William’s phone when he got it as a 14th birthday present. 

 

“Uh…” He chuckled nervously. “Funny story actually.” He turned around only to see Curtis run away from the table.

 

“Why don’t you explain that story to me?” Oliver asked from behind, literally behind William as he turned off his phone.

 

“Hi Dad.” William chuckled. “You look sharp today.”

Oliver raised a blonde eyebrow at him. “Curtis! Come out here.”

Even though Oliver wasn’t totally pissed at William for breaking his bow, he was still mad at him for not telling his father about it. After all, even when you have teammates, you never know when the city could be under attack.

 

So William felt relieved when he was grounded for a week, instead of the rest of his life.    
  
But for Curtis and William, it was a sweet success for the video game besties.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed!


	12. How To Babysit a Three Year Old

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While William helps babysit JJ, he asks his Aunt Lyla for advice and ends up inadvertently revealing a special talent he hasn’t expressed since his mother passed away.

“You sure you can manage?” John asked Lyla, watching Oliver talk to William.

 

“I changed hundreds of diapers from this one.” She gestured to the small toddler sitting next to William on the sofa. “But don’t worry, if things get too rough, I’ll call in the cavalry.”

 

“I know Lyla.” John kissed his wife. “It’s just, our son’s not even William’s age. It just seems…”

 

“Surreal that a teenage boy is in our house who’s also our godson?” Lyla asked.

 

“I was gonna say a little risky but that works too.” John smiled at Lyla. The team had a mission to get to, and William along with JJ needed to be watched. And since Raisa was out of town and Lyla was the director of ARGUS, Oliver had two reasons to entrust Lyla with her ability to protect the boys.

  
William however didn’t have much experience with little kids, since he preferred to be a loner most of the time, which was one of the reasons why he didn’t have friends. But his father had insisted that William get to know his godmother and their son. William knew he wasn’t the best babysitter but he wanted to get to know his godmother.

 

“William.” Oliver said to his son. “I’ve got a meeting to get to tonight and John’s gotta heal up so I’m gonna need you to be the man of the house.”

 

“Great.” William remarked dryly. “So no pressure then.”

 

“I know you don’t hang out with kids much, but consider this a training exercise.” Oliver said.

 

“I still don’t understand why you couldn’t leave me with Aunty Thea or Grammy Smoak.” William complained.

 

“William.” Oliver warned sternly to watch his tongue. “We talked about this. Thea’s busy tonight, she’s getting back into her job after getting out of a coma. And your Grammy Smoak is visiting her sister. Besides, you and JJ seem to have a bit of a rivalry.”

 

“For the last time Dad, that little punk was the one who stoles Uncle Rene’s hockey mask and put it in my backpack!” William exclaimed.

 

“Yeah, yeah.” said Diggle. “That’s what they all say.”

 

William started to roll his eyes before he caught his father’s look, that silently told him to behave. “Come on, Will. Do I really have to promise you ice cream for dinner?”

 

“That’s not a bad incentive.” William flashed a smile.

 

Oliver laughed, clapping the boy’s shoulder. “Nice try.”

 

“Oliver?” William’s Uncle Diggle called from the open door. “We have to go.”

 

“I’ll be back.” Oliver promised his son. “Be good.”

 

“Don’t worry.” Lyla said to Oliver. “I’ll make sure he and JJ get along.”

 

Unfortunately, it didn’t seem so as JJ stuck out his tongue and blew a raspberry, prompting a scornful look from William’s azure eyes.

  
Oh it was on like Donkey Kong!

* * *

 

“JJ!” William screamed chasing the three year old toddler around the living room. “Come on, your mom is gonna kill me if I don’t get you to eat!”

 

“Dinner’s almost ready!” Lyla called from the kitchen causing the 13 year old to groan in annoyance.

 

“Na, na, nana, na!” JJ taunted and continued running and laughing like a hyena. Exactly what led to this madness, even William would never understand. It was just one trick by JJ after another. Although in hindsight, maybe offering him a sugar cookie as a peace offering wasn't the best idea.

 

 _How do parents put up with this?_ William thought to himself as he chased the toddler around the house. Finally he cornered the little boy and grabbed him by the arms.

 

“Not so tough now are you?”

 

JJ gave a devil smile just before dragging his tongue on William’s hand and escaping. “Gross!” William exclaimed.

 

“Boys!” Lyla scolded.

 

Groaning like a broken train engine, William stormed to the kitchen. “Can’t you keep your own kid under control?”

 

“He just wants to play.” Lyla reasoned.

 

“By using my hand as a pacifier?” William lifted his saliva covered hand.

 

“Go wash your hands.” Lyla pointed to the sink. As William scrubbed the spit of his hands, a light bulb might have as well been over his head.

 

“Hey, Aunt Lyla?” He asked. “Does JJ like music?”

 

“Yes, it’s pretty much the only thing that calms him down whenever he gets excited or scared.” Lyla explained as she added the finishing touches to her chicken casserole. “Why?”  


“Oh nothing.” William lied rather quickly. “Just wondering. Cause I saw a piano in the living room.”

 

“Yeah that belonged to JJ’s great Uncle.” said Lyla, already seeing where this was going. “It was passed down in the family and it was a wedding present from JJ’s grandmother. She didn’t want to sell it or see it go to waste.”

 

“That’s really sweet.” William complimented, drying his hands. “Hey do you want some help setting the table?”

 

“Oh no, that’s ok.” Lyla said. “I believe there’s a piano in the living room that’s still tuned and has the solution to your babysitting problem.”

 

Just as William was about to leave, he turned around and said, “Don’t tell my parents or aunt about this please.”

 

“No problem.” Lyla smiled at the departing teen before washing her hands and reaching in her pockets for her phone.

* * *

 

 

While in the living room, William blew the dust off the piano keys once he opened the case. It was a little old but after playing a few notes, he decided it was ok for at least a few bars.

 

Samantha had made him take Saturday lessons every week when he was a kid, believing it would “broaden his horizon on what the world has to offer.” He was saddened when he had to leave his piano teacher, Ms. Michelle when he moved from Central City, but once he moved to his new town, he started playing less and less because he got caught up with schoolwork, and completely stopped when Adrian Chase took his mother away from him. Without his mother, he saw no reason to play music.

 

But when it comes to babysitting a toddler high on sugar, desperate times call for desperate measures.

 

Flexing his fingers a little, he took a deep breath and began to drum his fingers on the piano, playing the opening bars to the only song that was on his mind-Despacito.

 

The air was filled with music, vibrant, colorful music that felt alive. William hadn’t played for a long time but every note, every sound was a vivacious sound that sent a excitement up both JJ and Lyla’s spines as they listened.

 

When he was playing, William felt a sense of happiness spread from the tips of his finger all the way to his toes. He had forgotten what it was like to make such a beautiful sound from his hands but as he played, he thought about his mother and how they would have sing alongs on Christmas. He played a little bit faster to add to the tears dripping down his cheeks. But no matter the tempo, his hands on the piano were like butterflies, they were dancing on the keyboard. All the major, minor and flat notes that were played were combining together to create harmony that sounded like no other in the world.

 

By the time he was finished, JJ was sitting on the sofa with his jaw sitting on the floor. Lyla was itching to clap for her godson but she was afraid she would embarrass him, even though she filmed the entire thing on her phone.

 

“Again, again!” John Diggle Jr clapped happily while clutching his teddy bear.

 

William laughed a little when he shut the case. “Sorry kiddo. It’s time for dinner.” With a grunt he picked up the active three year old and asked, “So does this mean you finally like me?”

 

In response JJ stuck out his tongue and said, “You’re still a poophead.”

 

“Jonathan Diggle Jr!” Lyla exclaimed. “Don’t let me hear you speaking in that language!”

 

“No, no, it’s ok.” William retorted. “I guess this feud isn’t over.” Smiling, he took the boys went to the table and sat down for Lyla’s famous chicken casserole.

* * *

 

But when Lyla later showed the entire Team Arrow the video, everybody was floored by William’s performance. Even Dinah Drake, who hadn’t cried since her partner died.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed this


	13. A Unexpected Affection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When William is kidnapped and brought before Chase’s women, minus some of her students, one of them takes a particular interest in the young boy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, I’m back! I’m going on vacation so I’m not gonna be uploading chapters for a while after today. But other than that, HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

**May, 2017**

**Lian Yu**

Pride was a common feeling for Adrian Chase. Why wouldn't he be feeling it? He had fooled, broken, and taken hold of the person his adversary loves the most: Oliver Queen's son. The boy was currently held up in the boat Chase was driving towards the haunting island, drugged up on powerful sedatives so he couldn't escape. It seemed fitting for Chase, bringing forth the next of a bloodline of murderers and rich bastards. Fortunately for William, he didn't grow up like that. Adrian would have told the 11 year old boy about his grandfather's death, just to see the child's reaction.

Did he have any qualms about involving an innocent boy in a plan that involved bringing his father to the place where he was tortured and changed?

Absolutely not. He was so close to bringing justice for what Oliver Queen did to his father.

* * *

"When is he gonna be here?" Evelyn Sharp twirled her knife.

"Now young girl." Talia's sharp accent rang through the afternoon in the forest. "What did I teach you?"

Evelyn rolled her eyes and replied, "Patience is the key to victory."

Talia Al Ghul smiled. "That's what I'd like to hear."

"If you two are done being idiots," Black Siren piped up irritably. 'I'd like to get this done."

"It seems I'm not the only one who's impatient." Evelyn smirked.

Black Siren stormed up to the teenager and hissed, "Watch what you say, bitch. Or I'll shatter your eardrums."

"Then Chase would have to put you back in your little cell in Central City." Evelyn smiled arrogantly. "Or he'll kill you. Either way, I'll never have to hear your whiny voice again."

Black Siren was about throw a punch when Talia shouted, "Look alive!"

Through the mist, Prometheus walked with bravado towards,the three women who were already lined up for him, like the perfect soldiers he wanted. Granted, he was Talia Al Ghul's student but he surprised his teacher long ago. Now it was she who was his student, and she was perfectly fine with that, as long as justice would be served for her father's death. He was carrying a small boy in his arms.

The three women all looked at their leader with absolute respect and loyalty. Any sane person would know better than to disrespect a trained assassin who could kill someone literally at the drop of a hat. And Adrian Chase was more than happy.

"Black Siren." He addressed and the metahuman nodded affirmatively. "Sharp and Talia." The two other women also nodded at him. "Allow me to introduce to you, the Grandson of Robert Queen."

Without hesitation, he dropped William down on the ground, in front of the women. "Make sure he gets back on that boat." Chase warned before walking off to check with Talia's students about the prisoners.

"So." Evelyn drawled. "This is the Green Arrow's kid." She took a closer look at the brunette and shrugged her shoulders. "Eh, doesn't look like much."

"I'm not quite certain about that." Talia observed the boy. "Hm, peaky." She tapped his cheeks. "Has some maturing to do." She looked at his hands. "Rather tall for his age." She then opened one of her eyes and looked extremely closely at them. "But otherwise healthy. If he weren't the most important leverage, I might consider him alright for training."

"No way is that punk becoming one of your cronies." Black Siren muttered angrily.

"I was only stating a hypothetical." Talia snapped at the Earth 2 native.

"Seriously." Evelyn whipped out her gun. "This kid is just so pathetic, I might have to kill him myself."

"NO!" Black Siren knocked Evelyn down to the ground and jumped in front of the boy in a rather protective stance. "No one touches him!"

"Calm down, I was kidding." said Evelyn.

"I'm not." Black Siren hissed angrily. "Chase wants him alive, so I will make sure he gets on that boat." Tenderly, she scooped up William and cast one last scornful look at Talia and Evelyn.

"Alone."

* * *

William woke up extremely groggily. He felt like he had been swimming in his mom's hot chocolate and got stuck in one of the mini marshmallows. It took him a few moments for his vision to get back into focus but he finally saw where he was, and it definitely wasn't his house.

He was on a boat that had a few lights on and he could see a small gas stove as well as some boxes in front of him. The smell of saltwater was rampant in the cabin and from the light pouring in through the windows, it was daylight, but the grey sky marred by the clouds made it almost impossible to tell what time it could be, since he never wore a watch.

Three questions ran a marathon in William's mind: Where was he, how did he get there, and where was his mom?

Wanting to find out the answer to all of those questions, William stood up and tried to run to the door but found himself being yanked back by something. He looked down on his hands and found metal cuffs connected to a chain that was on the wall. He tugged on it a few times, but it wouldn't budge.

"Don't bother." A feminine voice sounded behind him. He turned around and saw a blonde woman behind him. She was wearing a tight leather suit that had coattails almost reaching to the floor. "Those chains are pure steel."

William walked as close as he could and peered closely at the woman's face and understood why it was so familiar.

"You're Laurel Lance." He whispered. "There was a big rumor that you were the Black Canary."

Black Siren laughed, setting him back down. "Not quite. Appearances can be deceiving, William."

"How do you know me?" He asked nervously. "Where's my mom? How did I get here? What's going on?"

"Ok, William." She put her hand up impatiently. "Let me answer them in order, my boss knows you, so I know you. Your mom is safe. You were knocked out and brought on this boat. And my boss has some beef with your dad."

"What?" William asked confused. "That's impossible, my dad died." Then he remembered bits and pieces of the last thing he remembered before a fuzziness settled in his mind. "I remember telling a really tall man that."

Black Siren chuckled from the small stove. William couldn't see what she was doing since her back was turned, but he smelled something cooking and it smelled delicious.

"That really tall man you speak of," she said. "That's my boss. As for your dad, I'm sure you'll find that out."

"Please." He tugged on his chain. "I don't know you but I'm begging you, let my mom go!" Tears started to spill in his eyes. "I'll do whatever you ask, please let my mom go."

"Hey, hey, hey." Black Siren whispered comfortingly. She kneeled in front of him and patted his head but William flinched and brought himself closer to the wall. "It's gonna be ok. Here." She pushed a small plastic tray of William's favorite dish.

"Macaroni and Cheese." He whispered. "Not too hot or icy,"

"But just enough to leave the cheese on your tongue." Black Siren finished him, with a sad smile on her face. It was a good thing she learned how not to cry. But it was hard to battle such emotion even for her, when the boy before her wore the face of someone she cherished dearly and it wasn't Oliver Queen.

William looked at the meal then asked, "Is it poisoned by the way? Or is it gonna blow up in my tummy?"

Black Siren fought back a tear. That was exactly what the little boy she knew on her earth would ask.

"No, you silly boy." She touched his cheek, and rubbed it with her thumb. For some reason, William felt conflicted as to whether he should feel safe or threatened around this woman. She seemed dangerous enough from her style of clothing and her posture, but from the way she acted around him, it was as if she didn't want him anywhere near Chase.

But she had no choice, it was either cooperate or go back to prison. And she was in no mood to go back into that infuriating glass box. But Black Siren could not deny the memories of an adorable baby boy with the most beautiful blue eyes-blue eyes that once belonged to a man she loved but was long gone.

As William gingerly ate his macaroni and cheese, he asked, "Miss, why are you nice to me? Why are you giving me food?"

 _Because on my earth, you're like a son to me._ But Black Siren never dared to say that. Instead she whipped her head around, and told him, "Listen kid, I'm the only reason why you're even eating your food. So if you wanna see your mom again, I suggest you stop asking questions."

It broke her heart to say that to the last person she wanted involved in Chase's crusade. But she had to keep up appearances. Even on her earth , she would never harm the kid, but she couldn't be soft. She was Black Siren. Mushy wasn't in her vocabulary.

* * *

After she locked the door, Black Siren found to absolutely no surprise, Evelyn Sharp, fiddling with her gun.

"Chase is probably expecting you." Earth-2 Laurel Lance ordered the teenager. "I'd get back to my position."

"What were you doing in there?" Evelyn asked. "Playing with the kid? Telling him bedtime stories? I'd known you were Black Siren not Mama Siren."

Immediately, the former Team Arrow member found herself kicked back to the shore and pinned down by the pissed Earth-2 metahuman.

"He is to remain alive." She whispered dangerously low. "No one is to enter that cabin but me and Chase. No one is to harm him, no one is to go within 10 feet of him."

"You really love that kid don't you?" Evelyn groaned out. Earth-2 Laurel grabbed her by the throat and held her close to her face.

"Don't. You. Talk. To. Him." She breathed out in pure rage. "DON'T EVEN LOOK AT HIM!"

Little did she know, the doppelganger of the man she loved would say the exact same words when he would rescue his son

Finally, she let the girl go and walked back to the forest to meet up with Talia Al Ghul's students at the monastery Chase told her about.

He had assured her that the kid would not be harmed but she learned a long time ago not to buy anyone's bullcrap, especially from the person you work for. But she would do everything in her power to make sure that little William would be safe. After all, she was the one who convinced Chase that if William were to be a perfect hostage, he would have to be healthy, unharmed, and most importantly, alive.

Black Siren may not be the best woman around children, but she would always do everything in her power to provide for one in her care, with their needs and safety.

She looked back into the woods, the boat was already far out of sight, and she prayed to whoever was listening to make sure the kid wasn't going to be hurt.

But seeing William, Earth-1 William, who was so grown up, it cracked some of the stone that encased her heart. But then again, there were more than cracks on her heart, there were scars, especially when she had to send  **her**  little boy away for his safety.

Earth-2 William would have been about his doppleganger's age by now and Earth-2 Laurel wondered what he might be like by now.

She couldn't allow herself to get distracted. She had to be strong, she had to be ruthless. She had to be Black Siren, smart, beautiful, and deadly.

But even so, she allowed herself to shed a couple of tears, for William, of this earth and her own. For her little Sparrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed this! This has been on my mind for some time but I hope I got the character’s reactions right.


	14. A Jolly Good Man in A Red Suit, and it's not Santa

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Christmas and Oliver still hasn't gotten his son the perfect gift. But when that gift arrives, it comes with a bonus feature: lifelong advice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, I'm back! MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Oliver Queen was stumped. It was already Christmas time and he hadn't gotten his son a single gift. A baseball game was suggestive enough, but it didn't feel like enough. With the team recently separated, he felt more on edge than he usually was, like he expected everything to go perfect. No lines could be crossed, no orders disobeyed like with Rene. Everything needed to go his way.

And Christmas, his son's first Christmas since his mother's death, was far from an exception. So what to get William for his first Christmas? He was 12 years old, so he imagined that toy trucks were kind of lame for the pre-teen. A signed baseball from one of the Rockets would be kind of cool except the team weren't in Star City at the moment which Oliver understood. They were probably with their families. He could buy William socks, though that was probably Oliver's thing. For all the other options, a first class vacation to the Bahamas, too expensive. A personal disco ball, too elaborate. And although it sounded like a kid's dream come true, a trip on the Waverider with his Auntie Sara back to one of Babe Ruth's legendary games would be too tempting for William, given his situation. In other words, he knew William would beg the Legends to take him back to the day he was kidnapped and try to stop it to save his mother. And even though Sara hadn't met William, he knew even after being trained by the League of Assassins, that one of her biggest weaknesses was kids.

So to sum it up, he had no idea what the hell he was doing. Half of his mind was focused on coming up with the best gift for William while the rest was still reeling in the betrayal of one of his own students, someone he considered a cousin. Rene Ramirez, who sold out his teammates for his own sorry ass. And for his daughter. Oliver forgave him at first, knowing he would do the exact same thing if William was at risk. But Rene had his second chance, and he blew it when he disrupted the chain of command out in the field. Rene was the soldier, and Oliver was the commanding general. Wasn't it supposed to be that simple?

 _Look at me._ He raised himself higher on the salmon ladder.  _Here I am, brooding as usual when I just got married, and it's Christmas Eve. It's supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year but I'm just working out to relieve some stress. And William's probably at home wondering where the hell his father is._

Even at this time, he honestly didn't know how Barry and his team pulled it together. Central City seemed like the perfect place to raise a family, it was no wonder Moira wanted Samantha to live in that place. Especially with the… _Wait a minute._ He jumped off the ladder, wiping the sweat off his brow.  _William still likes the Flash, right?"_

Pulling out the phone, he scrolled through his contacts until he hit the number of his speedster friend.

"Hey Barry. It's Oliver." He spoke through the phone. "Could you do a small favor for me?"

* * *

William blew into his hands to try to keep them warm, still regretting the decision to not wear gloves in the freaking cold night. It was Christmas and he had his guilty holiday (besides Christmas) pleasure consisting of pizza and Rise of the Guardians to attend to.

"Why did you drag me out here again?" He asked for the umpteenth time.

Oliver checked his watch, the one he got as a wedding gift from Quentin Lance. "Like I said, it's a surprise, a Christmas present actually."

"Then why couldn't I see it under the tree?" William shivered. "You know, inside, where it's not cold?"

"I told you to wear gloves." Oliver chastised before looking at his watch. "Honestly, he's the fastest man alive yet he's always late."

"Who is?" William question with curiosity.

A flash temporarily blinded them until the lightning dissipated to reveal a man in skin tight head to toe red leather. On his chest was a symbol of a lightning bolt.

"Sorry I'm late." The Flash spoke to Oliver. He didn't talk in his vibrated tone because he figured one day that he would meet the boy and it wouldn't be for Christmas. Besides, any friends of Oliver was a friend to Barry's and he didn't want to scare William by sounding like a distorted record player.

"Hello William. I hear you're a fan of mine." He kneeled down to William's height. The 12 year old was speechless. Here he was, standing before his hero, someone he used to worship as a kid. This time, it wasn't an action figure he was seeing, it was the Flash, the Hero of Central City, in person.

"Y-you-you're th-the Flash." William stuttered. "You're the Flash!"

Barry chuckled, ruffling the brunette's hair. "Yes I am. I'm a really good friend of your dad's. We've known each other for a long time."

Oliver gave the speedster an annoyed look, knowing those were the exact same words he used when he first met William.

"I have a million questions." William breathed out in the only way a fanboy would. "Ok, when Captain Cold almost caused that train to crash in Central City, did you rescue all of those people at the same time or did you go back in there and save them one at a time and did you-"

"William." Oliver held his son's shoulder. "Breathe."

"That's a good question William." said Barry. "I did save all of those people one at a time. I ran outside of the train and got them all out. It was really scary and I didn't think I was gonna make it to get everyone out. But I did it, because I had my teammates, even though we were all having a bit of a trust issue then." William cast a knowing look at his father.

"Funny you should say trust." said William. "I know my dad is still the Other Guy and this was after he had promised me he wasn't anymore."

Oliver looked down onto the ground in shame. He knew William was smart and that there had been footage of the incident at the Billy Joel concert. He wouldn't have been surprised that William had gotten suspicious after his talk with Diggle and looked it up online.

"William, I get you're upset-"

"No." William cut Oliver off. "You don't. My only other family other than him are my grandparents. But they're old and then after that, I'll have nobody. Yes, you were older than me when you lost your mom, but I'm pretty sure you weren't 11 years old and had literally no control over what happened to you."

"I was." said Barry.

William turned around and asked, "What?"

Barry vibrated his arms to warm up William and then sped off only to return with 3 hot chocolates, mini marshmallows included. "William, let me tell you a story. When I was 11 years old, my mother was murdered."

"I'm sorry." William immediately said, clutching his hot chocolate. "I'm so sorry."

"It's ok, kiddo." said Barry. "But the moment my mother died, was the moment my childhood was over. My dad was framed for the murder and was arrested, his parental rights were terminated. I was this close ended up in foster care. But then my best friend's dad, one of the cops who investigated the murder took me in and I became part of the family. Even though my dad was in prison and my mom was dead, I still had a family that looked out for me. A family I'll be forever grateful for. So William, yes I understand, perfectly how angry you must be feeling. I know just how scared you are."

"But your dad wasn't a superhero." said William. "Was he?"

Barry laughed a little, and Oliver let a smile creep up to his face. "No, but he was one of the best fathers anyone could ever have. He died a while ago but just because an orphan has lost both parents, doesn't mean they still can't have a family. Sometimes we can't choose our family, but we can make the most of it."

"But my dad is the Green Arrow." William whispered.

"Is he?" Barry feigned shock, prompting a little laughter. "I agree with you, his night job as... the Other Guy, as you put it is very scary and dangerous. But he will do his best to come back home just for you because you're the best thing that's ever happened to him. Trust me, there is nothing a father won't do for his child."

"But what if he doesn't make it?" William asked.

"Don't worry, your dad's the toughest guy I know." said Barry. "He knows what he's doing." He then checked his phone and looked at the Queen men. "Hey I gotta go, my wife and I have a date night. But before I go, wanna take a selfie?" He asked William, who nodded feverishly.

"Ok, come on." Barry took William under his arm and stuck out his tongue while William crossed his eyes. "Yeah!" Once Barry took the photo, he gave his fan another hug before saying, "William, remember this. Family isn't measured by how much blood you share. It's measured by how much you love each other. I can't promise that there won't be some painful days along the way, but here's a secret: You never really lose your family." He pointed to William's heart. "At least in here."

In a flash, pun intended, he raced off, leaving the Queen men out on the street in the Christmas night.

* * *

The boys didn't speak to each other about their encounter with the Flash, until after they closed the door of their apartment.

"Dad?" William asked his father. "I know that it hasn't been easy for you, and I know I've complained about how easy it hasn't been for me. I know I'm just a kid but I didn't really realize until now of what you might have gone through, losing your parents and some of your family. I am so sorry I-"

Before William could say another word, Oliver pulled his son in for a hug. "You don't have to apologize for what you've gone through in the past few months; it's ok to be scared. No child should ever have to be that scared. But I'm here, and I'm gonna make sure you don't have to lose anyone else to the best of my ability." He let go and saw that his son was beginning to cry. "I had to become the Green Arrow, because one of my friends was hurt, badly so I had to take his place. I don't know what the exact conditions of this are going to be but there are going to be some days, when I may have to put on the hood. But I promise you, I will do my best to come back home for you. I'm sorry I lied to you. You had a right to know."

"Hey Dad." said William. "How about for an early New Year's resolution, we work on trying to be honest with each other?"

Oliver laughed at that. "I can't promise that will work but we can try."

"Thank you." William embraced his father again then looked out into the window, and saw the first snowflakes beginning to fall. "Merry Christmas, Dad."

"Merry Christmas, son."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed this! And like I said before, have a wonderful Christmas!


	15. Actions and Decisions Have Consequences

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> During 6x13, William Clayton is about to face his very worried and very angry aunt, stepmother, and father. Basically this is what I feel really happened in the Bunker after Cayden was apprehended.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, I’m back! I have been super busy, being a high school senior can certainly take its toll and now that I’m in the early stages of senioritis (side effects of being a senior) I can finally write this series of one shots again!

When Cayden James was defeated, Oliver Queen was somewhat tempted to literally chain his son in one spot, just to make sure he didn’t get himself in trouble, again. He knew teenagers were prone to do stupid and irrational things, and with William being a pre teen at most, he certainly was no exception.

 

It wasn’t just William went out there, just to be with his father that scared Oliver. What got him on edge, was the fact that his own son, who knew what was going on, why it was happening, still went out into the field, risking his life. He had no training, besides a toy bow and arrow, and yet he still went out there and was in more danger than he had ever been.

 

But while Cayden James was being taken into custody, the only thing that mattered to Oliver was the fact that his son had put his life on the line and was perfectly safe.

 

“Whoa!” William exclaimed when he found himself in his father’s arms. “Dad, it’s ok. I’m ok.”

 

“Don’t get used to it buddy.” said Oliver. “Because the minute we get to the Bunker, you’re gonna be in big trouble.”

 

He could hear William gulp very audibly.

* * *

 

“What.” Thea was shaking as she spoke her words. “Were. You. THINKING? Do you have any idea how dangerous it was out there?!”

 

“Aunt Thea I-”

 

“Oh no, don’t you Auntie Thea me, young man!” Thea almost shouted. “I don’t know what the hell you were thinking but even you knew how unsafe it was! Not to mention, you had me and Felicity worried sick! What if you hadn’t survived? What if you had gotten hurt?! How could you be so reckless and stupid?!”

 

“I JUST WANTED TO MAKE SURE!” William shouted. 

 

“WILLIAM, ENOUGH!” Oliver’s intense outburst was enough to bring the entire bunker into total silence. You could practically have heard a pin drop. Nobody moved, nobody said a word. It was somewhat possible that no one was breathing, at least loudly enough to be heard.

 

Finally Oliver walked over to William and knelt down, looking at him straight in the eye.

 

“Buddy, I understand that you’re scared of losing me. I understand why this felt like Lian Yu, but what I don’t understand is after seeing me in action, understanding just how life threatening my duty as the Green Arrow is, why you put yourself almost literally in the line of fire. Why?”

 

“Because…” William began. “Because I wanted to be sure. All of the bomb threats, the city being in this much danger, it felt like Lian Yu. I have Aunt Thea, Raisa and Felicity. But I guess part of me wanted to see you come home in person. I-It’s not that I don’t trust you, Dad. I’m just scared for you.”

 

Oliver sighed in contempt, behind him Thea nodded her head, understanding just of what William meant. She too wanted to make absolutely sure she knew her family trusted her and when she found out Malcolm Merlyn was her father, she wanted to be in the inner circle all the time, just to know the truth. But here was William, who aside from his academic talents and proficient skills at video games, was still a 12 year old child and he had nowhere near the maturity to know his boundaries when it came to situations such as this.

 

“What you did tonight was dangerous and irresponsible.” said Oliver. “But on the bright side, I think that if it wasn’t for you, Cayden James would have probably detonated that bomb. I guess when he saw you, it made him realize how important being a father is. I love you William. And I promise that nothing will happen-”

 

“You can’t promise that.” William interrupted.

 

“I can.” said Oliver. “And I already am. I promise that nothing will happen to you, my son.”

 

“So, what happens now?” asked William.

 

“Now.” Oliver opened his palm. “You give me your phone.” William’s face paled at this. “Along with that, the TV privileges, computer, game boy, and ice cream also goes. For a month.” William wouldn’t budge, his hand was still clamped on the phone. “Don’t make me ask again, William.”

 

Begrudgeny, the pre-teen handed his father his Samsung phone. “Now, your Aunt Thea is gonna drive you home because Felicity has to take care of something here. Ok?”

 

“Ok.” said William.

 

“Come on kid.” Thea led her nephew out of the bunker.

 

“Wait.” Felicity walked up to William and nodded at Thea who understood what Felicity was about to say. “William Clayton, I am very disappointed in you. So I hope you take what your father and aunt say to you and use it to think about what you could do the next time you think about doing something like this.”

* * *

 

On the drive back, the car was submerged in silence. The only sounds pouring in the car were the ones coming from the traffic outside. 

 

“You know, it’s pretty obvious that you still have a lot of questions.” said Thea.    
  


William’s back straightened at the comment. “H-how do you know?”

 

Thea smirked. “Because I used to have the exact same look on your face. I wasn’t too happy when your dad came home after 5 years of being away and supposedly dead. But I was furious of the many secrets he kept from me-most of which you’re too young to understand. When I learned of some...family secrets, I was like you; I put myself out there, I made really bad decisions and I risked getting killed. All of that just to learn the truth.”

 

“But I looked up Grandpa Rob and I’m pretty sure he wasn’t a crime fighting superhero.” said William. “Was he?

 

Thea laughed. “No William, he was not. Wait, are you comparing your dad to my dad?”

 

William looked at her in confusion. “Yeah, who else would I be talking about?”

 

Thea let go of her breath, she didn’t realize she was holding it. “Yeah, the subject of my dad, it’s uh... a conversation we’re gonna have much, much later.”

 

“How much later?” William asked curiously.

 

“As soon as you have grandkids.” Thea answered. “The point is, the truth can seem like the easiest solution to a lie, but the thing is, sometimes the truth can be so profound that it makes you upset and scared, and when you’re scared, your judgment is askew. So tell me, what did you think would happen when you found your dad when he was about to stop a bomb from wiping out the entire city?”

 

William’s palms started sweating as he realized that he hadn’t thought his little adventure out very well. In fact, he didn’t think it through at all. “Umm…”

 

“Exactly.” Thea said. “Nothing. You didn’t think. William, you’re smart, you’re a really great kid. But what you lack is common sense. You don’t think things through and that’s why you go to school. To learn how to work out solutions that work. Ok, maybe tonight was a worse-case-scenario but it’s still important.”

 

“I guess lying must run in the family, huh?” William muttered under his breath, but his aunt could hear it. 

 

“Yep.” She replied. “But let me tell you a secret. There’s not that much of a difference between a lie and a truth; They’re both just made of words coming out of a person’s mouth. How you listen and take those words is up to you. Find some way to work with the truth, and when you do, you will understand a lesson that took me a long time to learn: It’s not just actions that have consequences, it’s also decisions.”

 

“Thanks Aunt Thea.” William took his aunt’s advice in and started to comprehend what she was trying to say. “I’m sorry for what I did if that helps. I suppose I deserve to be grounded.”

 

“See, there you go my small minion!” Thea ruffled her nephew’s chocolate hair. “That’s the first step to growing up; owning up and taking full responsibility to your mistakes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The episode was really good, I really loved it. I understand why William went out there but I feel like he should have been dealt with the consequences of his irresponsibility. He may be smart but he is a teenager and anyone who has ever had a teenager either as a kid or a sibling and/or has been one, knows full well that teenagers are prone to do pretty stupid things. William is still growing and developing so he’s got a lot to learn as he becomes a young man. I also feel that Thea can relate a lot to him because in some ways, she was a more wild teenage rebellious version of William when she found out about Malcolm Merlyn. 
> 
> Other than that, I hope you enjoyed this!


	16. Asking out a Girl: The Ultimate Style

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s Valentine’s Day and 16 year old William finally has the courage to ask out the girl of his dreams. Thanks to a little help from his Uncle Barry, he has an idea how to pull it off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's kind of late but Happy Valentine's Day!
> 
> Oh and Disclaimer (cover your ears) I DON'T OWN ARROW OR ANY OF THE CW CHARACTERS!

**February 14 2021**

 

“Alright William.” The teenager told himself, wiping his sweating palms. “You can do this. You’ve faced worse enemies than this.” He stepped up to the piano, his palms sweating like Niagara Falls. “There’s no turning back. It’s now or never.”

 

He set up the camera before connecting it to his laptop, which was synchronized with the TV’s of Star City High School (thanks to his intelligence, and a little help from his Uncle Cisco). After adjusting the lenses of the camera, he sat down on the small bench and pressed in a few keys. Within a few seconds, a screen popped up with a recording screen, the kind you see in a camera before you take a picture. All he had to do was press the space button, and he would have the whole school’s undivided attention. Especially Zoe’s.

 

But his finger was hovering, frozen above the space button. His whole body was shaking with absolute terror and he was wishing then that there would be a thug he would have to stop.

 

“Come on, William.” He muttered to himself. “You single handedly beat your evil twin’s ass, you got kids off a bus, and you even stopped a talking French gorilla. But you can’t even play a song in front of the entire school just to ask her out?”

 

With a loud dissonant bang, he slammed his hands on the keyboard. He groaned as he fisted his hair.  _ At least now I know why Roy likes to call me Shrimp.  _

 

It was Valentine’s Day and 16 year old William Clayton was about to give the ultimate Valentine to the girl of his dreams: Zoe Ramirez. For years he had a crush on the girl from his math class, but he never had the balls to ask her out. 

 

Under the influence of an alien substance which made him dark and aggressive when he was 14, it was discovered that he had inherited his father’s silvertongue when it came to women. But unfortunately, as regular William, he was too shy to talk to a girl. Especially after he ended up in the girls locker room, completely by accident of course (The Queen Family had taken a vow of silence regarding that particular incident.)

 

Fishing out his phone, he put a certain scarlet speedster on (you guessed it) speed dial.

* * *

 

“WEEEEEEEEEEEE!” Little Donovan “Bolt” West-Allen ran around the house with lightning indicating where he went.

 

“Bolt, come on!” Barry shouted as he ran after him. “Your sister is asleep!”

 

“I don’t wanna sleep!” Bolt stuck out his tongue. “I wanna run!”

 

Barry groaned while he used his powers to chase his toddler son. Dawn “Sketch” West-Allen was taking a nap instead of her twin brother, who had already broken a set of Iris’ china from running all over the house. Barry and Iris had a strict rule that no powers were to be used in the house unless it was for an emergency. Sketch was Daddy’s girl of course but when it came to Bolt however, rules were a different story.    
  


When a young speedster has ADHD, bad things tended to happen.

 

Bolt and Sketch were supposed to be in preschool, but it was temporarily closed because of a fire in the kitchens a few days before.

 

Barry had to take a day off from his job and let Joe substitute for him so Iris could go to an important meeting at Central City Picture News.

 

He had just caught his hyperactive son when his phone buzzed in his pocket. Using his speed, he sat Bolt down and turned on the TV. “Stay.”

 

He sped away near the door, not too far so he could keep an eye on his son and answered the phone.

 

“Hey William.” He never took his eyes off his son for one second. “What’s up?”

 

“Is that Willie?” Sketch asked from upstairs.

 

“Hold on one second.” Barry ran upstairs and kissed his daughter’s head. “It’s ok. Go back to sleep.”

 

“Tell Willie I said hi!” Sketch ran back in while Barry ran down, to find his son still on the couch with his big brown eyes still glued to the TV.

 

“Hey Will, sorry about that.” Barry spoke in the phone. “What’s wrong?”

 

“Uncle Barry, I’m freaking out.” William said in the phone. “I’m at the auditorium, everything’s set and I’m about to literally piss my pants.”   
  


“Settle down tiger.” said Barry. “This is why we spent those hours practicing. Just relax and you’ll be fine. From what you told me about Zoe, even if you screw up, she will like you no matter what.”

 

“You sure this song will work?” asked William nervously.

 

Barry laughed a little. “Trust me, William. This song is how I proposed to my wife. It’s the perfect song.”

 

“Is that William?” Bolt ran up and tried to grab Barry’s phone. 

 

“No, we don’t grab Daddy’s phone!” Barry exclaimed. “Sorry William, Bolt’s trying to talk to you.”

 

“Well, tell him and his sister I said hi.” said William. 

 

“Sketch says hi too.” said Barry.

 

“I gotta go.” said William. “Thanks!”

 

“Anytime.” Barry hung up the phone and just as he was about to put it back in his pocket, Bolt snatched it out of his hands and ran all over the house with Barry pleading at him to slow down. Being a parent to two speedster children was challenging, but it was worth it.

* * *

 

16 year old Zoe Ramirez looked through her notes for the lesson. She looked around the room, trying to see the adorable brunette boy with the blue eyes. She had really hoped that William wasn’t sick, not when there was a big test coming up. She hated math wit a passion, but William somehow seemed to make it enjoyable. Or maybe that was just him.

 

“Alright class.” Ms. Walters had finished writing some equations on the board. “Sit down and take out your notebooks. We’re gonna be discussing-”

 

Suddenly, the TV’s flickered on, in every classroom, hallway, and even the office. On the screen, was an amused William Clayton.

 

“I know the principal is on my ass by now.” William spoke over the students’ murmur. “But it’s Valentine’s Day and I wanna do something special for the coolest girl ever. Zoe Ramirez, you’re the best and this is for you.”

 

Taking a deep breath, William’s fingers began to create music, and it seemed like it was just starting, because as soon as he started playing the piano, William started singing into the microphone. It was a classic song that had come out a few years before,  _ Running Home to You _ . And it was perfect. Some boys were seething in jealousy, while few others gave William a set of thumbs up to the screen. Zoe was grinning from ear to ear as she saw the teenager occasionally glance at his hands playing the keys. But most of the time, his piercing blue eyes gazed into Zoe’s twinkling chocolate ones. And the song he was singing to her, along with his smile, told the entire class (the entire world even) that love was in the air.

 

It was by the second verse that the entire math class started applauding. There was a short break when William pressed the space button and a set of photos replaced the live footage of William in the auditorium. Specifically, a set of photos, that had Zoe and William together. Some with their family, some with their friends, and there was even one photo of them dressed as the Green Arrow and the Black Canary for Halloween. It was a good thing William was smart enough not to include any indication that his father was the Green Arrow or that Zoe’s father was Wildog.

 

After William finished the second chorus, there was a black screen with bright pink letters on it saying,

 

LOOK UNDER YOUR DESK

 

Everyone did so, but only Zoe found a hot pink envelope with a rose taped on it. Tenderly, Zoe took the tape off and opened it. Inside the envelope was a Valentine’s Day card, with these words written in gold glittering letters:

 

WILL YOU BE MY GIRLFRIEND?

 

And just like as soon as Zoe started crying when she read it, the song ended and the title card still remained.    
  


“Hey.” Zoe was so enamoured that she didn’t even hear William come in and he was now comforting her. “It’s ok. Was it too much?”

 

“No.” She sobbed out. “It was perfect.”

 

William hugged the girl and asked her, “So, will you be more than my Valentine? Starting today?”

 

Zoe looked up and let a silent “yes” escape her lips before embracing him in a kiss. The two were completely oblivious to their cheering peers from inside the classroom and from the hallway. It didn’t matter to them. They were finally together, away from the pressures of the world around them.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it’s kind of late, but it was supposed to be released on Valentine’s Day but I got busy with things. And about the nicknames for the Tornado Twins, let’s face it, if you said Don and Dawn aloud, I’m pretty sure you would get confused too. Although Bolt may make an appearance soon with a certain Príncipe de la Nieves at his side (hint hint)
> 
>  
> 
> Other than that, I hope you enjoyed this!
> 
>  
> 
> Oh and the talking French gorilla reference, yes that’s Monsieur Mallah.
> 
>  
> 
> And as for William Clayton’s evil twin I referenced here, I’m still working on the it.


	17. The Wrath of William Clayton

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After finding out about the injuries of his father, stepmother, and his Uncle John, William Clayton makes Curtis, Dinah, and Rene make sure they know who they've hurt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, I'm back! I have just watched the recent episode of Arrow, and I'm pissed! The actors did a fantastic job in 6x14, but the characters were at each other's throats! And NTA, the whole team, they have lost my respect.

To say that the original entire Team Arrow was feeling down, would be putting the situation mildly. Not only did they lose Black Siren, who was the key to saving the city's budget, Rene and his posse were out of control. It was bad enough when they quit the team to make their own, but not only did they try to kill Black Siren (mostly Dinah) and shoot Felicity but Curtis had the audacity to hack the implant in Diggle's arm, literally activating his weak spot, just so they could track them down.

Oliver and Thea Queen, Felicity Smoak, Quentin Lance, and John Diggle had never been more infuriated at the people they once called their friends.

Thea was patching up Quentin and Felicity was doing the same to John, while Oliver stood by the computers and thought deeply of how to make their next move. Now that Black Siren was on the loose and Star City was about to experience its own financial crisis, Oliver Queen just had no idea of what to do next.

"Hey." They turned their heads and they saw William carry a box with him as he made his way to where Quentin was sitting. "I heard what happened. That you all got hurt." He gave the large box a tap. "It's not pain meds, but I hope it's enough to help you guys start feeling better. I made them myself. And before you ask, Raisa drove me here."

He opened the box and a whole array of cookies was displayed for the entire world to see. There were rows of red and green cookies (the color was because of the icing). But as a special treat, courtesy of one William Clayton, the green cookies were chocolate chip, and the red ones were cinnamon flavored.

"I know it's lame and everything but I felt that you guys should have something to cheer you up considering...you know." He gestured to his arm, indicating both John and Felicity's injuries.

"Honestly, William." said Quentin. "After what happened, I need this more than a drink." He reached for a cookie but Thea slapped his arm.

"Not so fast there." She dabbed some blood off his head. "Broken arm, remember?" Thea took one of the red cookies and took a bite out of it. Immediately, she almost fainted from the sheer euphoria from the delectable treat. "Oh my God, these are so good!" She gave William a kiss on the cheek. "It's official, you are my favorite nephew."

"Like I've said, Aunty Thea." said William. "I'm your only nephew."

"All the more reason to love you." She swiped three more cookies from the box. "And your cookies."

While Thea and Quentin were munching on William's cookies, he brought some to Diggle, Felicity and of course, his dad.

"Hey, Mr. Diggle." William offered the box to John.

"Thanks, little man." Diggle took out a cookie along with Felicity.

"Lucky for John, I've just finished fixing the implant so I can go find some napkins." She took a bite out of a green cookie and squealed from the taste on her mouth. "Oh these are so fracking good!"

"Felicity?" Oliver questoned. "Napkins?"

"Oh, right!" Felicity gave her stepson a quick hug and ran deeper in the Bunker while Oliver beamed at his son with pride.

"I hope this isn't a bad time." said William.

Oliver smiled and ruffled William's chocolate hair. "It's never a bad time when you're around buddy."

"Are you guys ok?" William asked. "I mean, I heard Felicity and John got really hurt but I don't understand, what happened?"

Oliver drew in a deep breath and told his son this,

"Son, some of our teammates, they left because there was a lack of trust between us. But when it came between getting retribution for a fallen teammate of their own and saving the city, they chose poorly. And so, Felicity, Quentin and Mr. Diggle got hurt pretty badly. But don't worry, they'll pull through."

"You can count on that." John said from behind.

"Oliver." Felicity trekked back with napkins in her hand. "I think that once we're good, we should go pay Rene a visit."

"I don't want his name mentioned in this Bunker." It was clear to William that his father was simmering with anger. He knew better than to ask about the extent of what had happened that night.

"Oliver, John's chip may have been hacked, Black Siren may be free, and I may have been shot, but Rene, Dinah, and Curtis, they are still vigilantes fighting to protect their city." said Felicity. "Yes, I am unbelievably pissed at them as much as you, and we sure as hell don't owe them a thing. But at the very least, his daughter deserves to know if she still has a father."

Oliver huffed through his nose and said, "Fine, but you're taking John with you. I'll stay here and talk with Quentin and Thea of how to tell the city council the news."

"Deal." said Felicity.

Felicity and John went to go get their jackets, William left the box of cookies on the table and walked toward his father.

"Is it alright if I go with them?" He asked politely.

"William, this isn't a good idea." said Oliver. "I don't want those bastards anywhere near you."

"I'm not gonna fight them." William said innocently. "I just want to say hi."

Oliver raised an eyebrow and saw William made a fist to crack his knuckles. Just like that, it dawned upon Oliver of what William really wanted to say to Curtis and his team. He leaned down, and whispered in William's ear,

"Don't say anything too far out of line."

William nodded and ran to the elevator, just in time to hear the Queen siblings bickering with Quentin laughing in the background.

"Hey, save some for me!" Oliver yelled.

"Bu' fere tho good!" Thea's mouth was obviously full of cookies.

* * *

When they got to the hospital, Diggle and Felicity told William to wait in the hallway while they went to talk to Curtis and Dinah. While leaning against the wall, it took William every bit of strength just to keep from going over to the tall man, Curtis and kick him where the sun don't shine. John Diggle was a good man to him. He may have presented himself as a tough man of action, but around William, Mr. Diggle was nothing more than a teddy bear that was 6 ft tall.

Felicity on the other hand, she had started out as William's tutor, and had grown to become his confidant. His dad was a great listener but Felicity understood what it was like to grow up without a father. She also understood what it was like to be one of the smartest kids in class and she shared his secret obsession with Star Wars. But when he heard that she was shot, he shared his father's feeling of intense anger.

Rene was injured in the hospital right? So William could just walk him and punch the crap out of him. But the 12 year old math prodigy knew that would be extremely dishonorable, to strike a wounded warrior when he's getting medical care. He knew that because his father taught him that making someone else feel your pain, doesn't make it go away. But there was no way in hell that he was gonna let Rene and his posse get away for hurting his family.

"William?" He heard Diggle speak up. "We're gonna head back to your dad's."

"Sure." He said. "I just wanna talk to them first."

"Absolutely not." Felicity grabbed his arm. "I don't want them within 10 feet of your presence."

"Don't worry." William replied. "I'm just gonna say hi."

Felicity and Diggle shared a look before she nodded. "Fine. But you're coming back here in 2 minutes, no more, no less."

"Fair enough." William turned right and walked towards Curtis and Dinah.

"What are you doing here?" Curtis asked in a surprised tone.

"I came to give you a message." said William. "And no, this isn't from his dad. This is all me and nothing but."

"Look, kid there's a lot going on here-"

"That I don't understand because I'm too young?" William interrupted Dinah. "Yeah, you're probably right. But it seems you don't understand this: You mess with my family, you mess with me. And if you think that I'm bluffing just because I'm a 12 year old kid, then all three of you are damned fools. So be sure to pass this along to your buddy; Thea, Mr. Diggle, Mr. Lance, Felicity and most importantly my dad. They're my family, so if any of you so much as looks in their direction again, I will not hesitate to hunt you down just so I can break your faces."

Turning away from the flabbergasted vigilantes, William would have made it to the end of the hallway if Dinah hadn't said this,

"You're all talk and no proof."

Smiling, William looked at the female vigilante in the eye and said with ice in his voice, "Oh I don't need proof. Wanna know why? I normally don't hit girls, but for you, I'd be willing to make an exception. Have a nice day."

Completely ignoring Mr. Diggle and Felicity's dumbfounded expressions, William asked in a nonchalant tone, "Up for a Big Belly Burger on the way home?"

"Sure." Felicity's jaw was still hanging by a thread. "Sure, do you mind getting to the car first and waiting for us there?"

"No problem." William turned around and once he was out of sight, Felicity whispered to John, "I don't whether to applaud him or tell him not to go Green Arrow on their asses. No, the second one for sure. That's what I'm gonna tell him."

"Whether or not he was serious, I'm actually impressed." Diggle muttered to Felicity. "Little man has got balls, that's for sure."

"I don't how Oliver's gonna react though." Felicity was reaching for her car keys. "But for now, let's just get out of here before there's any more drama."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After seeing the latest episode, I had a sliver of hope for NTA. I respected their decision to split into their own team but after seeing them in that episode, I have lost all respect for them entirely. Curtis, I had a lot of hope for, he seemed like a nice guy. But the minute he hacked John's implant chip, was the moment I started to hate him. He's made his choice and that's enough for me. Dinah, I had a small amount of respect for but she wouldn't stop going after Black Siren, WHO WAS THE KEY TO SAVING THE CITY! But no, she had to go just "justice" for her precious Vince! Is avenging your love life more important than saving your home? You tell me. As for Rene, I started to like him less and less. But I still had a tiny bit of hope for him. But the second he mentioned William, I lost it. I'm not kidding, I spent at least 5 minutes yelling at the screen, "YOU DO NOT BRING THE CHILDREN INTO THIS!"
> 
> Whew! I just hope I wrote William's character right in this one shot! Or at least how he would react.


	18. Nicknames from Aunties and Uncles: Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roy meets William for the first time and decides to mess with the kid just a little.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, I'm back! It's been a long time and two great episodes of season 6 have aired. At the end of 6x16, I feel like such a proud mom, seeing Roy and Thea go off on their next adventure! I'm still sad to see them go, but I'M SO PROUD OF THEM!

It was another Thursday in Star City as a red car pulled up to the sidewalk. Or in this case, in the back passenger seat.

"I still don't get why you wouldn't let me sit in the front." Roy complained for the umpteenth time once Thea pulled up a block away from Star City Middle School.

"We already talked about this." said Thea as she turned the ignition off. "A, you're a fugitive of the law. And B, it'll be nice for William to get to know his Uncle Roy."

Roy snorted. The name sounded like something out of the Brady Bunch, but he actually kind of liked it. "Now Roy." Thea opened the door. "Stay right here, and I'm gonna get him. Don't get out and don't say anything unusually stupid. He's 12 years old after all."

"I'll do my best to impress the kid." Roy bit back sarcastically. He hadn't had many experiences with kids and frankly, he did get nervous around them, though he would never admit it, hence to save his pride. They weren't like adults, who were just warm, they were either hot or cold and you could never tell what set them off. He knew a few kids from the Glades but that's because they were on the streets like he was, on the run from the foster system.

While Roy was left to his thoughts in the car, Thea walked up to the schoolyard flooded with students.

"Minion!" She called out to a particular boy reading a book nearby. William looked up and ran to his aunt.

"Hey Auntie Thea!" He said to her once she was done ruffling his hair. "We're still going to Big Belly Burger, right?"

"How could I forget my nephew's favorite early dinner?" Thea chuckled. "By the way, mum's the word, in case your dad asks."

William shrugged. "Whatever. As long as I get my onion rings."

The Queens headed down a block away from the school, right around a bush and saw that Roy was still in the car. It was fortunate for them that no cops, dirty or not, hadn't spotted the fugitive.

"Who's this?" asked William once Thea unlocked the car.

"Minion, this is Roy Harper." By then William was sitting next to Roy in the backseat. "He's gonna be staying with us for a little bit."

William raised an eyebrow at his aunt. "Is he your boyfriend?"

"Yes." Roy and Thea answered in unison, prompting laughter from William.

"So, William was it?" Roy asked the pre-teen, who nodded in reply. "So, you're Oliver's kid."

"Yeah, so?" William asked skeptically once Thea had pulled out of her parking spot.

Roy raised his hands. "Just saying. Aside from the eye color, you don't look like him much."

"And here I thought you had eyes to see." William muttered sarcastically.

Thea laughed at William's comment and at Roy's reddning face. "Good one, minion!"

Roy chuckled a little. "You know what? You don't look like a William."

The 6th grader looked at the former vigilante in confusion. "I don't?"

"No." said Roy. "You look more like a shrimp."

"What?" William asked incredulously, looking at his arms. "Ok, I'm not as tall as you or Dad, but come on! I'm not that skinny!"

"Boys, be nice." Thea chastised them as if she was their mother.

"What? I'm not saying he's puny or anything" Roy cracked a smile. "You get to call him 'minion'. Seems only fair that he gets a nickname from his Uncle Roy...Shrimpy."

"Oh, is that how it's gonna be?" William challenged. "I may be Shrimpy to you, but you're uh….you're um…"

"It's hard to think of nicknames, I know." Roy patted William's head. "Just ask your Uncle Cisco."

"Who?" asked William.

Shock dominated Roy's handsome face. "Are you kidding me, you haven't even taken him to Star Labs?"

"It's Ollie's call." Thea pulled up to a parking spot at a Big Belly Burger restaurant. "Alright, William and I are gonna get our pick me ups. We'll be back in a wink." She literally winked at Roy for dramatic purposes.

* * *

As half an hour passed by Thea and William had gone inside, taken out an order for all three of them, and luckily no one spotted Roy. Mostly because Thea had parked her car in a spot darkened by the shadows of the trees above.

"Onion rings?" Roy asked in a disgusted manner.

William looked at him with cheeks filled to the brim with food. "Wha' wro' wi' that?"

"Don't talk with your mouth full." Thea slurped her strawberry shake coyly.

William swallowed the last of his food in his mouth. "Sorry. What's wrong with onion rings?"

"Not enough grease." Roy took a bite out of his bacon burger.

"As in the stuff you put in your hair?" William shot back.

"Ok." Roy set down his Big Belly Burger bag on the floor. "We're gonna settles this like real men." He held his arm out with his elbow facing down.

"Are we really gonna do this?" Thea groaned.

"Yes." William copied Roy's arm. "We're gonna do this. If I win, you try curly fries and you don't call me by that stupid nickname anymore."

Roy smiled. "If I win, I get epic bragging rights, Shrimpy."

"Bring it." William challenged, with a fire burning in his cobalt eyes.

"On three." said Roy.

"One."

"Two."

"Three!" Both men shouted in unison as they tried to wrestle the other's arm to the floor.

"You're tough." Roy said to the pre teen. "And you're strong for your age. But the truth is, I've got more training than you." With that, Roy brought down William's arm to the car seat.

"Oh, come on!" William complained. "No fair! You're older!"

"All's fair in arm wrestling," Roy replied. "Shrimpy."

On the way back to drop off William at Oliver's apartment, Roy had tried some of William's onion rings and to his surprise, they didn't taste as bad as he had thought. Maybe living on the run had sharpened his taste buds, he wondered to himself. But William saw this, and felt happy to have his Uncle Roy around, even though he wasn't going to be in town for very long and he had saddled him with a ridiculous nickname, as Shrimpy.

But Roy didn't call him that out of mockery. It was merely a term of endearment, and a refreshment of memory. When Roy was living in the Glades as a young boy, about William's age, he had a friend who almost looked like Oliver's son and went by the name Shrimpy. Of course at the time, the original Shrimpy was just another foster kid on the run from the system, but he and Roy were quite good friends. Until the day he was running away from the police for shoplifting, and never returned to the shady neighborhood. Of course, Roy had never heard out what happened to his friend, but regardless of the past, Roy had already developed a soft spot for William and was proud to call himself part of William's extended family. He wouldn't admit it, but no matter where he was, Roy Harper would make sure William wouldn't end up as lost as his friend was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took me so long to get back but I had been working on this idea for a bit and I just thought that Roy and William would have a bit of good chemistry. But since it never happened on the show, I figured why not create a moment such as that?


	19. Nicknames from Aunties and Uncles: Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When William turns up in the bunker to look for something he left behind, he comes face to face with a stepmother he had never met before

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, I'm back! After seeing 6x16, I was kind of disappointed that Nyssa didn't have a scene with William. But I do understand, there was a crazy assasain after Thea, so I can respect the writers for not including a scene between William and his "other step-mother". I know I wrote a one shot in which Nyssa actually did meet William (it was the first chapter of this one shot series) but that was actually written before season 6 was released and I didn't know how it would play out.

When Thea Queen had learned of her father's secret guild, she thought that her plans couldn't have been any more complicated. That's the way she wanted it, a ride into the sunset, or in their case, the night sky with the love of her life. Maybe, just maybe, they could be ones to start an adventure of their own, start a family with a kid or two. But no, her dear old dad, Malcolm Merlyn, had to go and form his own fan club while he was Ra's Al Ghul.

"It would seem your father's legacy burdens you." Nyssa said to her on the way back from the club where they had met Nyssa's old flame.

"You know the feeling?" Thea quipped back once they entered the abandoned office complex.

"All too well." Nyssa remarked but in her steps, she came to a sudden halt. "We are not alone."

WIthout even the slightest blink, Nyssa reached into the sleeve of her jacket and pulled out a knife and hurled it back only to hear it clatter against the floor as her intended target had dodged out of the way. To both her and Thea's surprise, the intruder was none other than…

"William?" Thea ran to her nephew and checked him for injuries. "Are you ok, did the knife graze you? Are you bleeding?"

"No, I'm fine." William smiled at her. "Although I'm pretty sure I almost pissed my pants."

"Language, young man." Nyssa cautioned, leaning down to his level.

"Fine." William retorted. "Strange pretty lady who I have never met before."

Nyssa chuckled at the boy's slight awkwardness. It was clear to her that he held wisdom in his eyes, but at the same time, there was a spark of youthfulness reminded her of Sara when she had first met the League of Assassins. From the way he stood his ground even against the person who had nearly hurt him moments ago, Nyssa wasn't surprised that he was Oliver's child-brave and yet sometimes foolish.

"I am Nyssa, Wife of Oliver Queen." She told the boy with a smirk on her face.

William looked at his aunt in a perplexed manner. "My dad married twice?"

Thea gave Nyssa a scolding look. "Nyssa, there are children present." She turned her attention back to her nephew. "William, what are you doing here? You know you can't sneak up on us like that."

"I just forgot my phone in the bunker." He answered simply.

Thea sighed and nodded. "Ok, I'll get your phone. Nyssa keep an eye on him for me, will you?"

As Thea called the elevator William asked, "Why can I go with you? It's my cell phone after all."

"Because the last time there was a situation involving Team Arrow, you followed your dad." Thea replied. "I don't think even your dad wants you getting any more ideas."

William groaned. "That was one time!"

"Exactly." Thea stepped into the elevator. "One time too many." Once the elevator closed with a small "ding!", William along with Nyssa, were the only people occupying the office complex.

William shuffled his hands around his pockets, unsure of what to ask of his apparent stepmother.

Luckily, being a trained assassin, Nyssa took note of his body language soon enough. "If you're still shaken by your recent experience, I apologize for bringing it forth upon you."

"It's ok, Nyssa." William's eyes widened. "I almost got killed three times in the past few months, so I'm fine. It's just...a bit much to get my head around to be frank. It's not every day you find out your dad actually has two wives. When they said my dad is a ladies man, they weren't kidding."

Nyssa chuckled at William's surprised reaction. Obviously Oliver did not see their marriage like she did, which made sense since Oliver wasn't raised by League Laws as Nyssa was. But regardless of their forced betrothal, Nyssa saw no reason to not care for William. He seemed like a fine young fellow even if Oliver wasn't his father.

"I assume you have questions about our marriage." Nyssa told William. "So I give you permission to ask anything that weighs your mind."

"So who did he marry first?" William answered immediately. "You or Felicity? And is there a half brother or sister I should know about?"

Once again, Nyssa laughed at William's innocent curiosity. "The marriage of your father and I, it's a long and complicated story." William scoffed. "And no, I don't have any children."

Nyssa could have sworn she heard him mutter, "Ah damn it."

"Ok." Thea strolled out of the elevator and before she could give William his cell phone, Nyssa snatched it out of her hands.

"Nyssa, come on." said Thea. "We don't have time for this."

"I believe we have time for one more moment." Nyssa eyed Thea.

"Can I have my phone back please?" William asked.

"I'll tell you what, WIlliam." said Nyssa. "If you can retrieve this phone from my possession, we may form a truce between us."

"In other words, call it even?" William summed up and Nyssa nodded in response. He tried three times, reaching for the phone, but each time he tried, Nyssa was too fast for him. She figured that William's agility and stealth were better served when he was under pressure.

"Nyssa, come on." Thea begged her impatiently. "We have to go."

"Fine." William slumped his shoulders despondently. "But before I go, can I at least give Nyssa a hug?"

To Thea's absolute surprise, Nyssa replied with, "Of course." She and William embraced each other and as he ran off, he yelled, "Now we're even!"

When Nyssa opened her palm, she found somewhat to her surprise that the phone was gone. The little one must have taken it from her without even knowing. She was almost proud of him already

 _Cunning and agile_. Nyssa thought to herself as she made her way down to the bunker.  _William would make a great warrior indeed._

"You let him win, didn't you?" Thea piped up while they were still in the elevator.

"I never let anybody win." Nyssa bit back. "You of all people should know that."

* * *

A few days later, a strange letter came for William. He noticed this as he was picking up today's mail in the apartment postal storage. The letter was entitled with his name, home address, and the name of the city. What was strange about it was that under the address, were the words,

DO NOT OPEN UNTIL YOU ARE ALONE.

Once he was done sorting through the other mail, William sat down on his bed and opened the letter.

 _William,_  it had read.

_It may be that I had met you face to face only for the first time last night, but I've heard some things about you. About how you love your family and how much your family loves you. I annulled the marriage between your father and I, but whenever you need me, I will cross land and sea._

_Rest assured your aunt and her boyfriend are safe and happy as they cross their greatest adventure together._

_You have a warm light inside you, so whatever happens to you, always remember to hold on to that light._

_Nyssa Al Ghul_

_Oh and don't ever tell your father I said this, but you are Al Dilu. I trust you can figure out what that means._

William rolled his eyes. If her accent wasn't any convicincing, of course she had to be cryptic in her goodbye letter. He could see why she was an assassin, she had looks, brains and a knife hidden somewhere on her clothes

But as always, his curiosity took over his sense of judgement.

"Ok, William." He said to himself. "Think. She's an assassin. Aside from maiming and killing people, they're also masters of espionage. And if they want to send a message through paper, there's either a code within the words or there's invisible ink."

So he turned on the lamp and shone it to the paper with no results. He pulled out a black light (A Christmas present from his Aunt Lyla) and tried the same thing. But so far, no matter what kind of lightbulb he had shone under it, there was no ink revealing itself. Just the neat calligraphy that was already inscribed in the parchment.

Reading it one more time, William got an idea. Especially at some of the words in the letter. "Ok, so a warm light. What's warm and has a light? Fire? No, Dad'll definitely kill me if I set our house on fire."

Running a hand through his chocolate colored hair, he looked around his room until he saw a bit of light peering through the door. And it was not just any light at all.

 _Sunlight._ A smile crept up William's face.

Jumping off the bed with the energy of a kangaroo, he ran out to the living room and held up the letter under the gleaming sunlight. In just a matter of seconds, black letters started appearing on the back of the letter. He turned it around and saw the missing letters fill in to form the words,

THE SHADOW

The Shadow? He wondered. Or Al Dilu?

It didn't matter to him. He had become fond of his Uncle Roy, but he was pretty sure even Nyssa would agree that anything was better than Shrimpy.

He hadn't known the assassin for a long time, but he had a feeling it wouldn't be the last time he would see her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have never seen Nyssa with kids but honestly, despite her killer job, pun intended and badassness, she seems like a perfect babysitter. It’s a shame that we won’t see her character on Arrow for probably a long time, but I couldn’t be happier for her actress taking new creative opportunities.


	20. Keep Your Head Down and Your Mouth Shut

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Oliver lashes out on his son, William learns a lesson he won't forget.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, I'm back! After seeing 6x18, I could really relate to William, because I know what it is like to have your dad blow up at you no matter what you might have done. Even if you didn't do anything. I know Oliver is nowhere near the abusive parent type, but I can say from experience that William's lucky his dad only ruined his science project.

"Well, I mean you outdid me." said Felicity. "For my science project, all I did was hack Napster."

"What's Napster?" William immediately asked.

"Wow, I am getting older by the minute." That alone was enough to tell the boy that it was some sort of thing from 10 years ago at the very least. "I can't believe you cloned a cabbage."

"When I was a girl," Raisa came by with some of William's tools. "Cabbage grew from the ground."

"Well Raisa, you're a long way from home." said Felicity.

"That I know." Raisa replied. "I'll go put these in the car."

William nodded and then looked at his stepmother. "I just really hope it's better than Sarah Epstein's solar hot dog cooker. She's really been talking it up. We're gonna be late, where's Dad?"

"Oh he-" Felicity was cut off by the door opening and the man walking in was none other than his father.

"Finally, let's go." William tapped the glass container impatiently.

"Yeah, I know." said Oliver moving closer to the table. "I just got to talk to Felicity for a second."

"But we're already late." William protested.

"Just a minute." Oliver smiled. "I promise."

Sighing dejectedly, William left his parents/step-parents at the table while he went to go check on his backpack, already thinking of how Sarah Epstein's face would look when her pride would be shot down again.

William was no bully, mind you. He just happened to have gotten himself in a feud with another classmate ever since he showed her up with his presentation of his model rocket science project. Ever since then, she had been out for his hide at every chance she got. He hadn't meant to hurt her feelings, but apparently Sarah had been the top student in his class, until William came along of course. Now if William had a choice between getting a Swirly and being in the same room as Sarah Epstein, he would gladly pick the Swirly plus anything.

But she wouldn't get it this time, thanks to Project Cabbage Patch (Felicity told him of a friend in Central City that would definitely lecture him about his choice of project , was it?) Sure he had help from Felicity but William worked so hard on the vegetable he literally made from scratch. His hair was combed, his shirt was pressed and his pants were ironed. Yep, William was ready to show up his academic nemesis.

"-Doing your job!" William's head snapped up and saw two people butting heads, instead of the happy couple that Oliver and Felicity usually were.

He had noticed that his father had seen better days. He knew that as the Green Arrow he had to conceal his emotions, but there was something about his father that seemed that he was more than frustrated. He was  **tired**.

So in an attempt to be the mediator in this heated argument, he called out to his dad, "Dad, you said you'd-"

"William, I'm in the middle of something please." William knew from the exasperated tone in his dad's voice that he wasn't helping. But William had to try to get him out of the house just for some fresh air.

"We're gonna be late." William continued.

"Well then we're gonna be late!" Oliver yelled at his son, knocking his project down onto the floor. Before William could even blink, Project Cabbage Patch was a pile of dirt and glass.

The entire room was silent for only 3 seconds, but it felt like 3 hours. Nobody said anything at all, until Oliver made his attempts to apologize but William knew that he didn't want to be in the same room as his father. So he made his way to his room and shut the door. He could hear Felicity telling Oliver to get out. Just get out and nothing else.

Kicking off his shoes, William's back cushioned the blankets under him. He stared at the ceiling, feeling a whirlwind of emotions enter his brain. First he was upset, then he was angry, but then suddenly he was guilty. He was no idiot, of course he knew his father was under a lot of stress, and he had to go and make things worse by opening his big mouth.

But all he was really trying to do was make them stop fighting, he hated it when he saw his loving family arguing with each other. It made him feel like dirt, that his family was unhappy and there was nothing he could do about it.

Still, he had no business getting involved in the argument, and now his project was destroyed because he had stirred the hornet's nest.

"William?" Felicity came in. "Hey, don't worry about your dad." He sat next to him. "He just needs space." William said nothing, staring into the wooden ceiling. "William, your dad loves you, he would never hurt you like that. Ever. He may be brooding sometimes but he would never lash out on his family." Again, William said nothing. Felicity wasn't surprised to see her stepson brooding just as how she imagined Oliver was right at that moment. If that wasn't the definition of the phrase, "Like father, like son", she didn't know what was.

"Ok, Mr. Tall, Science and Brooding." She flecked some of William's hair off his eyebrow. "Since you're apparently early into your teenage angst, I might as well give you space…"

"Wait, don't go!" He jumped off his bed.

"Relax." Felicity laughed, giving the 12 year old a hug. "Come here." She planted a kiss on William's head. "Your father is under a lot of pressure, like we're talking Mount Everest, which would be metaphorical and an exaggeration of course, considering Mount Everest is a famous mountain but not the tallest, and I will stop babbling. But not to worry, as soon as your father gets back, I might as well drag his ass here so he can give you a full heartfelt apology. I may even make him write a 500 word essay for how sorry he is."

"Felicity." William squirmed out of her arms. "I'm not 5 and I'm fine. Dad needs some time to think and yes I am worried about him. But what can I do? I'm just a kid who stuck his nose where it doesn't belong."

"No, William." Felicity draped her arm around William's shoulder. "Look at me, look at me. You have done  **nothing** wrong. Unfortunately, you just happened to have seen your parents arguing, which is something no child should ever have to see. It's not your fault and it's not Oliver's. Trust me."

He looked up into his stepmother's concerned eyes and whispered, "Ok."

"Alright." She smiled at him. "Raisa's waiting in the car but if you don't wanna go to the science fair, it's ok."

"No." He got up and looked around his room. "I wanna go. I wanna show Sarah Epstein who's the nerd boss."

Felicity clapped her hands. "That's the spirit. But what can we do? It took days for you to clone that cabbage. And the fair's in 30 minutes."

"That cabbage might actually be still intact." William snapped his fingers and pointed at her. "Let me see."

As William walked out, Felicity was surprised by his quick emotional recovery. Unless he was doing the thing in which he put on a good facade and hid his emotions away. It unnerved her a little and she knew he would have to talk to his dad eventually but for the moment, the only thing that mattered was making sure he was happy.

"Felicity!" He called from the kitchen. "Project Cabbage Patch survived!"

"Awesome!" She walked into the kitchen and grabbed her coat and saw William near the door with a new glass container and the ruffled up but still in one piece, cabbage. "Let's roll."

William knew he was putting a smile on his face just to look like he was tough, and he was. But the real reason for hiding part of his feelings, was because he didn't want to put anymore pressure on Felicity. All he wanted was for his family to be happy and together. So that's what he would try to do. It wasn't that he would try to act like nothing happened. It was that he would acknowledge that his father lost his cool and William would be ok by the end of the day.

* * *

Later that night, when he was supposed to be in bed, (he technically was but he was on his phone reading the news) he just couldn't sleep. Being honest with himself, William had assured himself that he wasn't be afraid of his father. But he shouldn't underestimate him either. So whenever his father was losing it or close to losing it, he wouldn't speak unless he was spoken to.

 _Best not to be one more problem for my dad to deal with._ William thought to himself just as his father came in.

"Hey." Taking in a deep breath, William let his guard down just a little because Oliver still looked like he was emotionally buried under a boulder. "I didn't know you'd be awake."

"I can't sleep." William answered truthfully. "I got a news alert about the impairment."

"It's impeachment." Oliver added on. "Don't worry I'll be fine. I'm worried about you."

The warmth in William's azure eyes were enough for Oliver to know that his son was ok. Once again, he was blown away by his maturity. Not many children possessed the self support William did. But either way, there was no excuse, none at all to yell at William. That was what being a parent was all about, putting your child's well being before yours, no matter what happens to you or how much stress you're under.

"I'm really sorry about before." Oliver continued. "I would never purposefully try to make you afraid-"

 _Of me._  William finished in his head. He knew exactly what Oliver was gonna say. But it still didn't change William's love and forgiveness for his father. No matter what he did or said, William would always forgive him.

"Felicity said you were under some sort of drug." said William.

"Accidentally." Oliver added on. "I was dosed by someone who works for the man I'm trying to stop."

"Ricardo Diaz?" William asked. He had heard the name from Oliver once so it wasn't unusual to him. "Can you stop him?"

"I think maybe I found a way." said Oliver. "But I need to know that I won't lose you or Felicity. Ever."

"You won't." said William with hope in his heart. "But Dad, I knew you were under stress and I still kept nagging at you. I'm sorry."

"William, you have absolutely nothing to be sorry about." Oliver held his son's hand. "If I could go back and not yell at you, I would. The only thing that matters to me now is making sure I don't scare you whenever you see me."

"You don't." said William. "Trust me."

"Ok." Oliver gave his son a big hug and William returned it. "Get some sleep buddy."

William nodded, turning off his phone and the light next to him. He snuggled under the covers, just as the door closed. It was true, what he had said. He was afraid of his father before when his mother was killed, but now that he had lived with him for some time, he could see that while his father may have had a terrible past and made terrible mistakes, he was still his dad and nothing less.

But his father yelling at him and breaking his project was enough to teach the young boy a lesson he would carry with him for whenever his father was in a mood like today or if by some freak chance he met Ricardo Diaz. And it would be a lesson that was quite easy to remember:

Keep your head down and your mouth shut.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is actually based off my experiences. And the lesson William learns, is one I learned the hard and painful way, a long time ago. In fact, most of what happened to William in this episode, happened to me (Minus the apologies and parental support). My parents arguing and my father yelling at me, was as normal in my life as sneezing.


	21. Testifying in Court

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> During Oliver's trial, William comes face to face with Star City's "justice" system.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, I'm back! Sorry for the late update but so much has been happening in the past few weeks, even if it's only the last marking period of my senior year. But for now, it's time to get to business.

His toes curled in his shoes. He kept his eyes glued to his dad. William had heard the possibility of his own father being on trial many times, but never did he imagine that it would actually happen. It was a good thing Raisa led him out of the apartment with bed sheets over his head, otherwise he probably would have still been seeing spots from the camera flashes.

This was why William hated his father being the Green Arrow-because there may be a day when his father leaves to fight bad guys...and never come through the door again.

"You alright kid?" Dinah Drake whispered from behind him as the court began filling in again. William was slightly tempted to ask her, 'Why do you care now?' But instead he chose to be polite and gave her a quick nod.

"Don't worry, kid." She said. "Your dad's a tough guy."

Imagining his father getting hurt pained William enough, but being put on trial? William didn't know how his own father was putting up with all of it.

"This court is now back in session." He heard someone announce and felt Felicity give his hand a small squeeze.

"It'll be alright." said Felicity.

William wanted to take his father and run out of there so badly, that he had to bite his tongue to keep himself in check. It was tempting, to try and make all of this go away, but he had to be strong for his family. For his father and stepmother.

 _Nothing could make this worse._  William told himself just as Prosecutor Alexa Van Owen rose up in front of the judge.

"Your Honor," She began. "As a means to strengthen my case and put forth evidence that Oliver Queen is the Green Arrow, I call William Clayton to the stand."

Everyone gave an audible gasp at this announcement. If someone had just come into the courtroom, they might have thought everyone had seen a ghost. Worst of all, it took both Oliver and Felicity great restraint to not jump and take William away from the whispers and scrutinizing stares. But William couldn't hear anything. He was too distracted by the pounding heart in his chest and the fear that was squeezing both of his couldn't see it but Jean Loring, Oliver's defense attorney was already calling objection, declaring malicious prosecution on a minor. But the judge ignored her in the blink of an eye.

"William Clayton, you are called to the stand." Judge McGarvey pointed at the chair. between him and the jury.

The entire courtroom was shaken. Even the jury looked unsure about this declaration. There was intense focus on the 12 year old child, who was close to having a panic attack. His knees were shaking and his nails dug in the wooden armrests of the chair he was sitting in. He was completely frozen in fear, he didn't notice that even Curtis was clenching his fist and looking rageful at the prosecutor. Could he blame him?

"Do not worry." Raisa said comfortingly. "It will be ok."

"Raisa." His developing voice cracked. "I-I can't move."

"I will ask you one more time, William." The judge called again rather impatiently.

"Be strong, ok?" Felicity rubbed his arm. "Just keep your eyes off the jury."

William nodded, slowly getting up, forcing his trembling legs to work as he made his way past the jury onto the witness stand.

It was like William was back on that boat near Lian Yu, trapped, scared, unable to do anything but comply to the bad man.

For 7 seconds, the entire courtroom was as silent as stone, allowing even the sound of a pin dropping to be deafening. But the outrage on Team Arrow's faces was loud enough to shake William out of his frozen stupor.

"Raise your right hand." Judge McGarvey ordered the young man. Swallowing a breath, William did as he was told. "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?"

"I do." William replied immediately.

"The floor is yours." The Judge told the Prosecutor.

"You are William Robert Clayton?" She asked him with no emotion in her voice.

"Yes." He answered.

"Are your biological parents Samantha Clayton and Oliver Queen?" Van Owen asked.

"Yes."

"Is your birthdate June 15 2006?"

"Yes." William replied.

"Objection!" Loring shouted. "This is irrelevant to the trial."

"Overruled." McGarvey drawled.

"Now." Van Owen began her interrogation. "When did you move to Star City?"

"Right after my mom's funeral." said William.

"And your mother died in May of 2017?" asked the prosecutor.

"Yes." said William.

"Describe for us, your mother's death." Van Owensaid. "Exactly how it happened."

"Objection, your Honor." Loring spoke out.

"Overruled." said McGarvey.

"Um…" William started playing with his fingers as a means to calm himself down. But even he knew it was futile.

 _You can do this_. He lifted his head up to the audience before him and he recited the cover story of how his mother passed.

"Mom was coming home from work." said William. "She went through an intersection when a car ignored a red light and crashed into her. From what they told me later, she died instantly." Tears were burning in his eyes but he swallowed them down. "I didn't find out until the police came to my house."

"Were you aware of your parentage at the time?" Van Owen asked.

"No." said William.

"How did you meet Oliver Queen?" asked Van Owen. "Did you know he was your father then?"

"Objection, your Honor." said Loring. "You can only ask one question."

"Sustained." McGarvey replied.

"He came by my house one day." said William. "He said he was a friend of my mom's. He stopped by a few times, offering to babysit me. After we moved I never saw him until my mom's accident."

"And you don't find it convenient that your father showed up right after your mother died?" Van Owen asked.

"Of course not." William snapped at her defiantly. "My dad may not have been there for me when I was born but he's here now, doing the best he can."

"Since there is evidence that points to your father's identity as the Green Arrow, which includes a trail of bodies, isn't it possible that he had some role in your mother's death?"Van Owen asked.

"No." William said adamantly. "My father is many things, but he is not, never was, and never will be the Green Arrow."

There was a heavy silence that weighed in the courtroom, as everyone awaited for another clawing question from the prosecution but instead, she said softly, "No further questions."

Van Owen sat down and Loring rose, ready to hopefully, ease some of the pain the boy had been through.

"William, you are a student of Star City Middle School?" She asked him kindly.

"Yes." said William.

"How did you adjust to switching schools after your mother's death?" She asked patiently.

"It wasn't easy at first." said William "I was the new kid who just happened to be the mayor's son. So yeah, of course I got a few funny looks here and there."

"How did you allow Oliver Queen to be in your life?" Loring asked him.

"When my mom passed away, I had a choice: either go live with my grandparents or live with my dad." said William. "I didn't know Oliver at all, but I had never had a dad before and something inside me told me that this would be my only chance to have one.

"How did you form your relationship with your father?" Loring asked.

"At first I didn't talk to my dad much." William said with honesty. "How could I? To me, he was a complete stranger who took pity on his kid who had lost his mom. He tried reaching out to me, but I kept shutting him out. I know he was trying to make up for the years he didn't know about me, and he did. One night I was reading a book, and my dad came in my room. He told me how he would always be there for me, whether I wanted it or not. He said he would never leave me again. I wouldn't admit it for a while, but that was the moment I realized that Oliver Queen was more than a sperm donor, he was my dad. No, he  **is** my dad. Whether they say he's the Green Arrow or not, isn't going to change that."

Loring nodded at him and told the judge, "No further questions your Honor."

* * *

Before he knew it, William was back outside of the courtroom while the trail had been called for recess. His head was still pounding from the adrenaline but he was more than relieved that he didn't have to go back up there again.

"William!" Oliver scooped him up in his arms. "Oh, I am so proud of you. I never imagined that you would be called up to the stand but you were so brave."

"He's right." Felicity gave him a small kiss on his head. "I can't imagine what you were thinking but you did such an amazing job."

"Where's Raisa?" William finally asked.

"Funny story." said Oliver, chuckling a little. "She is currently being restrained by Dinah, Curtis, Rene and John. She's wants to go out for Diaz's neck and from what I can tell, she's currently screaming obscenities I'm not going to translate because you're underage."

It was true. Just a little down the corner, in the closet, Raisa was cursing Ricardo Diaz to the nth degree, using words that even Oliver had never heard of-and he used to be a captain of the Bratva.

"Oh just wait till my mother finds out about this." said Felicity. "She once used one of her high heel wedges to scare away this kid that was bullying me, she'll do it again. This time, with 6 inch stilettos." Both Queen men gave her a look. "I mean, it was only one time, it's not like she does it very often and you know what? Why don't we get you something from the vending machine William? Something with lots of sugar."

"Felicity, honey." Oliver chastised lightly. "A little unhealthy don't you think?"

"What?" Felicity asked innocently. "William deserves it, don't you think?"

William put on his best face, a smile he had learned from his Aunt Thea and eventually Oliver caved in. "Alright, go ahead. Not too much sugar ok?"

While William and Felicity went off to the vending machine, John Diggle came back near Oliver.

"How's Raisa?" Oliver asked without turning around.

"You know, it really weirds me out to no end how you do that." said Diggle. "Raisa's cooled off, thank God. I thought she was gonna rip us a new one."

"Well she's got a reason to do that to Diaz." said Oliver. "I swear when I find him, he's gonna wish he's never heard of Star City."

"Line starts behind me, Oliver." said Diggle. "But have you thought about how many people Diaz has under his thumb? Wouldn't be a surprise if he had the prosecutor hooked."

"Still, she had the nerve, to call my son to the witness stand." Oliver growled angrily. "Can't they see he's been through enough?"

"Not enough for Diaz." said Diggle. "I know what you're thinking Oliver, and you're gonna have to talk to William about what might happen. I know it seems like the hard thing to do, but sometimes, you can't sugar coat the truth."

"How does JJ go to sleep at night?" asked Oliver.

"Usually Lyla reads him a story by Dr. Seuss." Diggle said lightly. "From what she's told me, it usually works."

* * *

When Earth-2 Laurel Lance saw the televised courtroom, she had kept her emotions stone cold. Until now, when she saw William, rage boiled in her blood and she swallowed the scream that was building in her throat.

"I always admired that kid." Diaz said next to her. "When first saw him in that theater with his Flash backpack, I wasn't too sure about him. But I can see that he's got a backbone after all."

"Why would you have Van Owen bring up William?" Laurel finally asked. "That's my-" Diaz looked at her with his eyes narrowed. "That's Oliver's kid. He's got no part of this."

"That's where you're wrong, Laurel." Diaz, paused the screen, pointing at the little boy at the stand. "This boy, William is the son of Oliver Queen. What better to edge the jury by presenting a child twisted by his father's love? Besides, goes to show him and his crew we mean business."

"Still, that's no reason to-"

Before Laurel could speak anymore, Diaz's fingers had gripped around her throat. "Are you doubting me, Ms. Lance?" Laurel couldn't even shake her head. "I didn't think so. Frankly, I don't know why you're concerned about this kid, you didn't have a problem with me bringing out Rene's brat. But you're lucky I don't give a crap about how you feel."

Diaz finally let go of Laurel.

"Don't bring William up anymore." Laurel choked out. "Just leave the kid out of this."

Diaz looked at her one more time and scoffed, walking away from her. "Never knew you had a thing for kids."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's taken me a while to get back but that was the trial! I felt so bad for William when I watched 6x21. He looked so desperate and hurt I just wanted to give him a big hug and tell him everything would be ok! But William is a strong boy and I knew he could be brave throughout this whole thing. The season finale is tonight and if it ends with Oliver being in prison, it could put a story idea I've had in mind for quite some time. If you want to know what it's about, I can sum it up in 3 words: Suit up, kid.


	22. A Mother's Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Many people have known Earth-2 Laurel Lance by many names: Black Siren, monster, killer and Fake Laurel. But there’s only one person in all of the Multiverse, who has known her as Mommy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, I’m back! After seeing the season finale, I realized that I haven’t been this shaken since Infinity War. Because this changes everything! And poor Quentin! He was such a good father!

**Earth-2, December, 2006**

Laurel Lance stepped out of the bar, shuffling her hands in her trench coat pocket. The icy cold rain couldn't compare with the frustration

Another job interview had gone bad. It wasn't her fault she had to knock his lights out, he had grabbed her ass first.

She had been trying to land a job for some time but never seemed to find one. Either because they were full or they wouldn't take a nobody. She had to earn some money somehow. Sure, she crossed a few lines robbing that safe, but it was one time and she was trying to keep food in her stomach. She was lucky enough to have not been caught by the police or anybody. Nevertheless, the money inevitably runs out and she had to survive by herself, hand to foot.

But she also had to be careful. If she continued to steal, she would get arrogant. If she got arrogant, she got sloppy and if she got sloppy, it would land her a criminal record and that was the number one obstacle of earning a living.

In the dark underbelly of Central City, it was everyone for themselves and even Laurel followed this code.

It was only when she reached the end of the alley that she took notice of tha takeout bag in her pocket. Before her interview, she had stopped for some takeout and had forgotten to throw away the plastic box.

She stopped by a dumpster, opened the lid and almost screamed at what was inside-a baby, a cold, pale baby.

Judging from the clothes, the baby was a little boy, about 6 months old, wearing blue pajamas. The baby had a tuft of chocolate brown hair, blue lips and it looked like death was creeping closer to claim him.

Laurel's heart beat like a thousand drums. At first she didn't know what to do. She shook her head violently, not willing to let herself be distracted. So she scooped the baby up, ran to the nearest hospital and begged everyone inside to save the baby.

* * *

An hour went by and all Laurel could think about was the baby. She herself had a record of petty theft and forgery but she was nowhere near as heartless as the boy's mother. Who would be so cruel as to abandon and innocent baby?

The door opened and a doctor came out with a clipboard in hand, facing Laurel.

"Is he alright?" Laurel immediately asked.

"He's alive and that's thanks to you, believe me." said Dr. Garrison (from his name tag). "He's being nursed back to health and getting some food in his stomach. From the looks of him, he was in the garbage for about an hour and he would have frozen to death if it wasn't for you"

"It was nothing." Laurel replied.

"All he needs is a couple more hours of observation and he's good to go." said Dr. Garrison. "I know he's not yours, but would you like to see him?"

 _No!_ Her survival instincts kicked in. Laurel took every measure she had every day not to get emotionally tethered to someone. The last time she had opened her heart to someone, there had been a brutal confrontation that had robbed her of having any chance of having children. This time, she couldn't help but feel protective of the child. She would never admit it, but she loved children and always relished in her babysitting days. Sure they were sometimes a pain to take care of since they were so needy, but they could also be bundles of joy and laughter.

"Yes." Laurel nodded. "I want to see him."

Part of her brain tried to stop her legs from moving but Laurel Lance would not leave that hospital until she saw the baby with her own two eyes.

"Here we are." Two doors parted ways for the doctor and criminal. Rows and rows of babies filled Laurel's eyes and she had to bite her tongue to keep from cooing at the sight.

"He's right down this way." He led her down to the left and wrapped in a clump of blue blankets was the baby. He looked much healthier than when she found him in the garbage and was sleeping peacefully.

"Hi." Laurel couldn't help but speak in a higher pitch than usual. "Hello, little one." She rubbed his tiny hand and took in every second she saw his little cherub face.

"We have reached out to his mother but she has hung up every time." said Dr. Garrison. "We've sent someone down to the Clayton residence but to tell you the truth I'm worried already."

Laurel's breath froze and turned around, facing the doctor. "I'm sorry, did you say Clayton?"

"Yes." said Dr. Garrison. "We have identified the young boy as William Clayton. I don't know if I'm at liberty to say but I believe his father was Oliver Queen, I remember that baby gossip from a while ago."

Laurel looked at the little boy and then back at the doctor. "Is his mother, Samantha Clayton?" She asked in a dangerously low voice.

"Yes." said the doctor. "But Ms. Lance I must advise against any irrational action you're thinking of."

"Oh I'm not going to do anything stupid." Laurel took off her jacket and thrust it at the doctor.

She leaned over the sleeping baby and said in a mild voice, "Your mommy has been a very bad girl and I'm gonna go talk to her, ok?" She looked back at the doctor and said, "Make sure no one goes near him. Keep him under health watch and I'll be back in a few."

"Ms. Lance I don't think I-" The kind doctor was no match for the deadly stare from Laurel's eyes.

"Did. I. Stutter?" She brushed past him and stormed out of the hospital.

For a place like Central City, it was a small town and thanks to her old habits of her small criminal career, knew every shortcut to the suburban neighborhood, where her target was living.

She knew Samantha Clayton of course. She had known that her dead lover, Oliver Queen had cheated on her and impregnates Samantha. Of course there was a rumor that Oliver's mother Moira, offered her money but Samantha had begged Oliver to help her through the pregnancy and he did. It stabbed Laurel's heart to see her boyfriend and his baby mama, so she ended the relationship but still holding a torch for the billionaire playboy.

After Oliver died, both Laurel and Samantha had moved to Central City for a fresh start, neither woman speaking to one another. Laurel had thought that Samantha would raise little William in a stable household. It was bad enough that he was under a microscope even as a fetus, so Laurel thought that it would have been best if she had given the single mother some space.

But tonight, she could see that she had made a tremendous mistake.

"Open up, Samantha!" Laurel screamed, banging at the door.

She heard a lock being disabled from inside and opening the door, was a naked Samantha Clayton (she was covered in a bedsheet).

"What the hell do you want?" She snapped.

"Are you aware your son is in the hospital after almost freezing to death?" Laurel hissed. "Which by the way, was how I found him in a  **garbage can**?"

"That brat is alive?" Samantha drawled tiredly. "Oh don't tell me I have to pick him up."

"How could you, Samantha?" Laurel asked angrily. "That's your child you abandoned!"

"Sammy!" A man appeared at the top of the stairs, and Laurel had to shield her eyes from the man's groin being shown to the world.

"Look, my boyfriend doesn't want kids and whatever is going on with that brat, he's not my problem." Samantha started to close the door but Laurel kept it open and CRACK!

Samantha was on the floor, clutching her scarlett cheek. Laurel went over to the huddled figure and snarled, "You give mothers a bad name." With a single stomp, she smashed Samantha's nose with her boot. "That was for William. Enjoy getting screwed by douchebags and losers." Before leaving, she spat on Samantha's bloody face and yelled at the man outside, (who was probably there to inform Samantha of William's hospitalization)

"Just leave the bitch! She doesn't want him."

* * *

When Laurel returned to the hospital, she immediately ran to the Nursing Ward and scooped up William in her arms. It was incredible to Laurel how tiny he was in her big arms. But he was the purest human behind she had ever seen, even when he began to cry and fuss.

"Shh." She crooned at William and began to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to the little boy. Whether it was because Laurel was a naturally good singer or because that was William's favourite lullaby, the baby stopped fussing and just stared at the woman cradling him. It was then that she could see how he was Oliver's son. He had his adorable bright blue eyes as well as his smile.

"Oh you're quite a charmer, aren't you?" Laurel smiled at him. "That's right, you're gonna be quite a looker when you grow up."

"This is a sight to see." Dr. Garrison came in. "I take it the conversation with William's mother-"

"She is not his mother." Laurel snapped viciously. "She's nothing more than an egg donor."

"I was going to inform you of the options of taking care of William." said Dr. Garrison. "I don't think going into the foster system is a good idea."

"I couldn't agree more." Laurel patted William's head. "Because I'm going to make sure that no one abandons William,  **ever** again."

From then on, Laurel took a few jobs and pulled several robberies, going to so much trouble to raise her son.

* * *

**Earth-1, Star City, November 2017**

Years after gaining her Scream, Black Siren always hoped she would see her son again, that once they were reunited, she would smother him with kisses and give him the biggest hug. But that would never happen, even on a parallel dimension where her son's doppelganger was coming out of a Big Belly Burger restaurant with the other version of the man that she loved. It tore her insides apart to see the boys she loved who were gone on her earth, alive on this one, where she was a pariah.

But it was a good thing she had learned to conceal her emotions behind a stone wall. Still, she couldn't help but wonder, was this how Quentin Lance of this earth felt around her? Looking at the face of your child, hoping that they're somehow alive, and then realize that this stranger wasn't really your child?

Even though she wasn't at all related to any version of William Clayton, the mother long buried inside her wanted to reach out to the young teen, ask him what he was doing, how his life was. As a matter of fact, her William would have been his doppleganger age by then.

Even after years having her son ripped away from her, Laurel had suppressed her memories of motherhood, to prevent weakness being shown. But when she looked at William, even when she met him for the first time on Lian Yu, she had experienced at least one flashback of raising her beautiful boy.

Being a parent came with setbacks of course. Aside from the 2 am feedings and the burping, William was a fussy baby who demanded a lot of attention. Although Laurel was sleep deprived for weeks, she loved her son no less even when he grew faster than she wanted.

In all of the multiverse and the strange things she had seen, she would do anything to have a warm bowl of macaroni and cheese with him one last time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promised a mother’s day special and here it is! When I saw the season finale I was crying. Literally, I was crying, especially at Quentin’s death. He was a man who had grown so much and who was a great emotional crutch for the team, especially Oliver! And Oliver, oh why did he have to go to prison? Why? But anyway, I have the story in mind, which I am working on, it’s called The Blue Shadow. Think of it as Arrow with a side of Mulan and a topping of Spider-Man (minus the whole spiderness). If you want to know what I mean, be on the lookout for my take on season 7, which to tell you the truth, may not be up for a few weeks. Oh and about Earth-2 William Clayton, that kid is lost but he’s not really gone. (insert wink)


	23. Shopping with Killer Frost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When William is left in the care of Caitlin, he discovers that Killer Frost has a warm spot for kids.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, I'm back!
> 
> This is is AU in which Caitlin doesn't lose her Killer Frost side and Oliver doesn't go to prison. And also Barry's daughter doesn't come back in this. This is a complete one shot.

Oliver Queen parked his car near Star Labs in the middle of the afternoon. He opened the door for his wife and son and they walked towards the entrance.

"Are you sure William is ok here?" Felicity asked. "I mean don't get me wrong, of course we can trust them with our son. What if the metahuman we're chasing comes here?"

"Caitlin and Cisco gonna be watching him." said Oliver. "If thing get out of hand, they can protect him. Besides you know Raisa has her day off today and she deserves a break."

"You guys probably need one too." William quipped. "First Star City, now Central City? This guy never seems to be satisfied with robbing banks."

Felicity made a noise of agreement as she punched in the secret code for entry. But a loud buzz and big red letters reading DENIED, were all she got.

"What the frack?" Felicity whispered. "They never changed it."

"Who dares enter the sacred lair?" Ralph's voice echoed through a hidden microphone.

"Ralph, it's Oliver." The archer growled. "Let us in."

"None may enter unless they speak the password." Ralph continued to speak in his overly dramatic voice.

"Ralph, what the hell are you talking about?" Felicity argued. "We have a passcode, not a password."

"Yes we do." Ralph added on. "I made one up and never told anybody about it."

"So how is the Flash gonna get inside then?" William spoke up.

"I'd say that he…" Ralph paused. "That's a good point actually."

The microphone switched off and the door opened, with Ralph on the other side, flashing his usual smug grin at the Star City vigilantes (excluding William).

"Welcome back, Robin Hood." He greeted. "Smoaking Hot Lady-"

"Who is already married, thank you very much." Felicity cut him off before Oliver could step in.

William snickered at Ralph's terrified face, making a note never to get on Felicity's bad side.

The Queen-Smoak-Clayton family of three walked towards the cortex, only to be greeted by a Latino man with shoulder length hair.

"Alright, you guys made it!" He rubbed his hands together in absolute glee. "Now where's my nephew?"

"Are you looking for me?" William asked.

"Name's Cisco." The engineer extended his hand. "Cisco Ramon, but you can already call me your favorite uncle or Tio Cisco."

"Hello." William couldn't help but laugh with Cisco. There was something about this man's presence that made him want to smile and laugh, just to forget his troubles.

"Where's Barry?" Oliver asked.

"He's on vacation with Iris after the whole Devoe thing." said Cisco as they went inside the cortex. "It's just us, Caitlin and Wally for now. Wally's already out trying to catch this pesky thief, whose name I'm still trying to come up with."

"What's so important about naming bad guys?" William asked, causing Cisco to turn around at the boy.

"Tis a sacred duty." said Cisco. "Naming is a dying art and it must be preserved."

"In other words he's trying to bring comic books to life." Oliver piped up, turning to William. "Are you gonna be ok here? Sorry the Flash couldn't be here."

"I'm ok Dad." said William. "Cisco seems pretty cool, though I don't know this Caitlin Snow."

"That would be me." a woman with brown hair and a white lab coat came in with a bundle of arrows. "I synthesized a special stunning agent into the arrows for taking down our metahuman. This will be similar to paralyzing him but it won't last too long. Just enough to bring him to the police."

"Thank you Caitlin." But just as Oliver took the special arrows, Wally's voice came through the communication systems.

"Yo, Cisco! This guy's got me stuck in some parallel dimension and-agh! This lava's hotter than it looks and I can't get out!"

Cisco gave an audible whine. "But I was just getting to know my favorite nephew!"

"We only just met." said William.

"Don't mind him." Caitlin said sweetly. "He loves kids. Cisco, go save Wally, I will take care of William and I'll be here in case anyone has anything torn or broken."

"You're a doctor?" William asked curiously. "What kind?"

"My specialty is bioengineering." Caitlin said proudly.

"Are you sure?" Felicity asked. "I mean, you Caitlin I trust, but what about Killer Frost?"

"I'm not sure how she is around kids but I'm pretty sure she won't hurt them either." said Caitlin.

"Alright." said Oliver. "I'm trusting you, Caitlin. But if anything happens make sure to find some way to tell your alter ego not to freeze my kid."

"Who's Killer Frost?" William asked. "Is that some sort of iced tea?"

Caitlin chuckled. "She is the personification of my powers."

William gave her a questioning look. "I don't understand, how can your powers be a person?"

"Think of the Incredible Hulk, plus Elsa." Cisco clarified, getting a "ah!" response from William.

"William, are you gonna be ok?" Oliver asked his son. "If anything happens, and Killer Frost starts to come after you, just call Felicity. She is gonna be with ARGUS to catch our metahuman but call her first, ok?"

"Ok." said William.

* * *

Less than 20 minutes later, William decided that Caitlin Snow was one of the sweetest people he had ever met. She answered any question he had for her, she helped him out with his science homework and she even told wild stories of the Flash and his father.

"No way." William laughed. "My dad shot the Flash in the back?"

"Yep." said Caitlin. "Back when he was a beginner speedster. Every time your dad would meet up with Barry, he would have an excuse to complain about the Arrow shooting him. It was kind of funny in a way, with Oliver constantly telling Barry to get over it."

"Who do you think would win in a fight?" William asked. "Green Arrow or Flash?"

"No one knows for sure." Caitlin rubbed the back of her head. "See, three years ago, your dad and Barry went head on in a competition to see who would win and never invited anybody. To this day, they still haven't told us who won that fight. It's probably something about keeping their egos intact."

"My dad rarely admits defeat." William agreed, but Caitlin suddenly couldn't help herself noticing the forlorn look on his face.

"What's up?" She asked gently.

"There's been something I've been meaning to ask." said William. "But I don't want to be insensitive, I mean with having another person who shares a body with you."

"That's very considerate of you." Caitlin sweetly. "But why hesitate? You can ask me anything especially about Killer Frost."

"Caitlin, you're awesome, no doubt about that." said William. "But, Killer Frost. What's she like?"

"Ever read Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?" asked Caitlin.

"Robert Louis Stevenson?" William replied.

"Right." Caitlin nodded her head. "You know how Jekyll is everything Hyde is not? And it works on the flip side?"

William brought his hand to his face, stroking his chin in deep thought. "So, while you're sweet, Killer Frost is...cranky?"

Caitlin started to laugh a little. "That's actually the first time somebody hasn't described her as cold."

"I mean she sounds like a badass." said William. "A really sarcastic badass who has a taste for leather jackets."

"Felicity tell you about Iris' bachelorette party?" Caitlin asked him.

"Some of it." William replied politely, scratching the back of his head. "And there's one more thing I was afraid to ask.

"Sure." Caitlin nodded.

"I would like to meet her sometime." said William. "If that's ok with you and the other you."

"You would like to meet her?" Caitlin had already guessed. "I think that you should. But first, let me write her a note. I have to tell her to keep things PG."

"Why write her a note?" William asked. "She's in your head, right? Can't you talk to her, like telepathy in your own head?"

"It doesn't really work like that." said Caitlin. "It's a nice idea, but Killer Frost and I share a body, not the same mind. We're two completely different people so when she is in control, I have no memory of what happens. I only know what she's like through photos, videos and from what my friends tell me."

"I'm sorry." William hugged her. "But I'm sure you guys get along."

"We do actually." Caitlin taped the purple note to the computer. "Are you sure about this? I completely trust her, but it's you I'm worried about. Do you really want to meet her?"

"Yes." said William. "I would like to meet her, please."

Caitlin nodded at her and gave him a knowing look, before grabbing an epinephrine pen and injecting herself in the leg. Before William's eyes, the change had begun: White spread through auburn hair chestnut brown eyes filled with an icy blue color and skin paled to be similar to a sheet of paper.

Killer Frost had come out to play.

"What's up, kid?" Killer Frost asked in her usual voice.

"You're her." William breathed in astonishment. "You're Caitlin's other side."

"No shit." Killer Frost snapped back just as she noticed a purple note. "Oh look at that. Caity sent a note." She took one look at it before rolling her eyes. "I should have known she would ask me not to say or do anything too violent."

"I'm guessing that's your thing?" William asked rhetorically. "Violence?"

Killer Frost chuckled, which made the hairs on William's neck stand up. "You could say that."

"You don't look like a killer." said William.

Killer Frost's eyes glowed silver at him. "Excuse me?"

"I'm not sure what it is but I just can't see you as a killer." William said honestly.

"You do realize I can freeze your neck in seconds, right?" Killer Frost's hand started to leak mist, possibly as a way to emphasize her point.

"You're not going to, aren't you?" William asked, causing her to put her hand down and look at him in shock. "I'm not doubting your abilities. I'm just saying you're not that scary to me."

Killer Frost raised an eyebrow. "Then what do I look like to you?" She was curious. No one had ever not become scared of her upon first meeting her.

"You look like a blonde biker chick to me." William said, crossing his arms.

Killer Frost laughed but this time, it didn't sound sadistic or cruel. It sounded more like legitimate amusement. She would probably dismiss it as Caitlin's feelings pouring into her brain, but she was starting to like this kid, making her wonder why Caitlin never introduced her to other kids, until she remembered exactly why: She was cold and dangerous unless she trusted people. But William seemed to trust her, and that seemed to open up a world of possibilities.

"You're not bad, kid." said Killer Frost. "But sadly, the same can't be said for your taste in fashion." She held up his red plaid shirt to further her evidence.

"What's the big deal?" asked William. "They're just clothes."

Killer Frost scoffed. "Alright that was your chance. Grab your coat, kid. We're going shopping."

* * *

They had gone into two different stores at the mall and William was already bored to death. He did have a taste for fashion and he liked picking outfits that were based on what was not filthy, but he never really understood why girls took it as a matter of life and death. To him, it was ok to dress nicely for special occasions but to be picky of what to wear every single day? It always annoyed William to no end, which was why he always left the shopping to his mother, step-mother, and aunt. It was also why he rarely stepped foot into a store like Macy's or JCPenny's-too much decisive thinking on such a simple thing as clothes.

"This." Killer Frost pointed to a store that looked like a rock star's sanctuary. "This is what I was looking for." She had driven him to the mall; apparently Caitlin's driving skills had been picked up by her alter ego.

"Frost?" He asked, avoiding the "Killer" part of her name so as to not attract unwanted attention.

"Don't tell me you're bored now, Will." said Killer Frost. "The fun's barely started."

"And it's already ended for me." said William. "Again, what is the big deal? They're just clothes."

"They're not just clothes." said Killer Frost. "They're an expression of your inner badassness. Something tells me, you've got a lot. And I never say that to anybody. In fact, don't  **ever** tell anyone I said that."

"Said what?" William gave her a wink.

"This is why I like you." Frost's blue lips gave a smile. "Come on, let's bring it out."

"Again, is this really necessary?" WIlliam tried to squirm away from Killer Frost but she was stronger than him.

"Yes, and I don't wanna hear any crap about it." said Killer Frost while William gave a groan akin to a zombie.

Inside the store, loud rock music blared from the speakers, the walls were black but the clothes were a combination of spikes, chokers, makeup and leather jackets of different colors.

"Where do we start?" William asked rhetorically before Killer Frost quickly added, "Jackets." SHe took his hand and dragged him to the back where dozens and dozens of leather jackets were on display in every color imaginable. Not a single one went without an edge. Some had little stones decorating the arms, others had thorn patterns on the chest and some had large spike protruding from the shoulder pads that were sewed in to them.

"Again, is this necessar-" He closed his mouth at Killer Frost's cold stare that told William that she would literally freeze him to the floor if he continued whining about it. "You know what? Let's do this."

Killer Frost gave a smile, before scouring through the jackets and picking one that was grey, had black accents and had long sharp metal spikes coming out of the entire jacket.

"Not my style." was all he managed to say. He wasn't fluent in fashion lingo, so he had no idea how people managed to pick their outfits with the precision they did.

"Too bad, Will." Killer Frost put it back. "I think it kind of suits a 13 year old, especially when you're a teenager."

William's cheeks burned a light shade of red, unsure of what exactly to say next. So he blurted out the first thing that came to his mind.

"Blue is my favorite color."

"Mine too." She looked through jacket after jacket and WIlliam just looked around the store, taking note of his surroundings. It wasn't too bad from the inside, it just had a lot of danger in it. It was a good danger, the kind that kids felt whenever they did something bad like taking their parents' money or pranking their teachers. He was starting to feel that Killer Frost was actually a cool babysitter, despite her icy sharp tone around him.

"Will." He turned around to find Killer Frost holding her hands on her hips. "Why the dumbass plaid?"

William chuckled, feeling a little embarrassed. "I'm Oliver Queen's son which means school isn't really a hotspot for making friends who either like me for being me or friends who aren't scared of my dad and hate his guts. So I just try to blend in as much as I can."

"So you want to remain invisible for the rest of your life?" Killer Frost asked.

"If it helps me with school then yes." William kicked his feet a little.

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard." said Killer Frost. "And as someone who works with a goody-two-shoes gang, that's saying something." William was about to say something when something was shoved in his chest. He looked at the jacket that was in his hands and looked at Killer Frost. "What are you waiting for? An invitation written in ice? Put it on."

Begrudgingly, William put on his jacket and looked in the mirror. The jacket was a light blue, with tiny spikes emitting from the forearms. White accents decorated the sides of the jacket and black accents ran intricately on the shoulders.

When he looked at himself, he almost didn't recognize who was in the mirror. He had never worn a leather jacket in his life, only the clothes his parents bought for him. The jacket did more than made him look like a different person. He felt like a teenager, ready to take on the world and break the rules.

"You like it?" Killer Frost asked him.

"I guess." said William.

"It's a yes or no question." said Killer Frost. "Do you like it?"

"Yes, I like it." William nodded quickly. "In fact, I love it!"

"That's what I thought you'd say" said Killer Frost. "I would normally steal this now, but I think your grumpy old man would ban you from hanging out with me."

They paid for the jacket and walked in the mall, with William feeling more lighter with every step he took. He didn't really care what people would think if they saw him like this, he liked feeling bold, dauntless and badass even. It gave him a rush and he felt like it.

"So the little nerd has a bad side." Killer Frost mused next to him. "That means my work is done."

They stopped at the food court to have some pretzels. Once they left the mall, Killer Frost would turn back into Caitlin and she would drive him home, giving him enough time to fill her in on his day with her alter ego.

"Can I ask a question?" asked William, popping a pretzel in his mouth.

"Are you stupid enough to have one?" Killer Frost asked.

"No." He replied.

"That's the right answer." She popped a pretzel she had frozen in her mouth. "What's on your big brain?"

"Why were you named Killer Frost?" William asked quietly, to avoid ears that would pick up anything?"

Killer Frost frowned, unsure of how to answer this question. In all her time being a part of Caitlin Snow, Killer Frost never really asked why she was given that name. She had always assumed it was because of her alter ego being afraid of becoming her Earth-2 doppelganger and just went along with it.

"I'm...not sure." She could only say.

"You've never killed people have you?" William asked.

Killer Frost drummed her blue nails on the table. "I've maimed, but I don't think I've actually killed."

"What if you got a new name?" asked William. "Something that's your style?"

Killer Frost thought about it for a moment before responding with, "If you want to it's your choice. But I think my name's got a nice ring to it."

"Do you think you could make a small icicle, please?" William asked politely. "I'm gonna need some inspiration."

"Sure." She stuck her hand under the table, conjured a small piece of ice and slipped it into William's hand.

"What do you think of Icy Frost?" He asked, receiving a no nonsense look from the white haired woman. WIlliam looked at the ice, trying his best to think of a good name. "What about Frozie Frost?"

"That was pathetic even for you." She said.

"Just Snow Frost?" William suggested before it finally dawned upon the teenager: "No, wait. Krystal Frost! With a K."

She looked at the ice in William's hand and then at the boy for a few moments. The name did have a nice ring to it, but she needed time to decide if she deserved that name or not. After all, she had kidnapped and stabbed her friends. But so far, they never left her, never abandoned her. Maybe she could show she wasn't as much of a killer as people took her to be after all. But for now, she felt like she needed to earn it. "I'll tell you what, I'll think about it, alright kid?" She gave him a fist bump.

"Sure." He gave her a fist bump in return.

* * *

"Whoo!" Cisco brushed sweat off his forehead. "I gotta tell you, I don't think Team Arrow and Team Flash has worked together to catch a bad guy since Captain Boomerang!"

"Cisco we've stopped a lot of bad guys together, remember?" Oliver asked, walking in with Felicity, who was with ARGUS assisting them with the technological aspects of catching Vortex, their new meta criminal.

"Yeah but not like this, when it's just us." Cisco bounced in his step.

"Except I wasn't there, Mr. Nostalgia." Ralph piped up. "Remember?"

"Yes, I know." Cisco retorted.

"Well at least I got out of that literal hellhole." Wally brushed some glowing embers from his head. "Lava pits aren't as cool as Discovery Channel makes them out to be."

"Didn't you go up against a time demon?" asked Felicity.

"William!" Oliver called out. "Where are you buddy?"

"Dad!" The young man came running into the Green Arrow's arms. "Did you stop him?"

"Yep, and he's going to be serving time in an ARGUS prison for all the places he's robbed." said Oliver. "By the way, where did you get this jacket?"

"Killer Frost bought it for me." William answered as Felicity yelped in surprise. Cisco's jaw dropped, Wally made a noise of curiosity, and Ralph look unimpressed.

"As in deadly, sardonic KIller Frost?" Felicity asked.

"How was she?" Wally asked.

"She's actually pretty awesome." William laughed a little, tugging his new leather jacket cuffs. "Both Caitlin and Frost." Right on cue, Caitlin Snow walked right next to the teenager.

"Don't worry guys, William was in good hands and the three of us, including Killer Frost, had a fun time." She said. "Before you ask, there wasn't any trouble; he's a sweet little guy."

Oliver walked up to Caitlin and shook her hand. "Thank you so much for taking him in for the day. And the same goes for the other you."

"Thank you." Caitlin shook his hand back. "We really appreciate it."

"If Killer Frost were here I would tell her that she just became so much cooler." Felicity joked. "No pun intended of course. Cause of the whole Elsa theme she's got going on."

"You expect me to believe that Killer Frost has a soft spot for kids?" Ralph asked rhetorically.

"She left a note for you, Oliver." Caitlin dug into her pockets and pulled out a sheet of paper. She cleared her throat, demanding everyone's attention in the room. "She says that she thankful to have met such a badass kid, and that if he wants to hang out with her again, she'd like that very much. She just wants him to feel safe around her and that she advises him to try to bust out of that shell of his at school. Also, she's still thinking about the new name."

"What new name?" Cisco asked William.

He shrugged his shoulders. "You'll have to ask her."

"Is it a good name?" asked Cisco.

"Come on, William." Oliver led his son to the elevator with his wife by his side, but not before turning around to Caitlin and mouthing "thank you" to her.

"Is it a good name?" Cisco kept pressing with Caitlin trying to drag him back to the Cortex. "What's the name? How can I approve of a name if I don't know what it is? Please, I need to know what it is!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took me so long to get back but here I am! Like I said, if you haven't read the Blue Shadow, it's out already and it has several chapters. I don't want to give spoilers about the story here but I can tell you this: It's Arrow with a side of Mulan, a topping of Spiderman and a sprinkle of Coco. If you want to figure out what I mean by this, you may want to check it out.


	24. Mommy and Clyde

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just when you thought Earth-2 Laurel Lance couldn't possibly get any more complicated, she proves you wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, I'm back!
> 
> Oh and Disclaimer (cover your ears) I DON'T OWN ARROW OR ANY OF THE CW CHARACTERS!

Every family has its secrets, especially on Earth-2. Some stand out more than others. But even if it's just a family of two, appearances can be deceiving.

The story of Laurel and William Lance, is not for the faint of heart. Even if they weren't related by blood, they still loved each other deeply. But there was more to this close knit family than what people saw.

In fact, the dark underbelly of Central City was home to this family. For Laurel and William Lance were more than Mother and Son; they were partners in crime.

Literally!

* * *

**2010**

"Momma?" 4 year old William called for his adoptive mother. "I'm ready!"

"One second!" Laurel called from upstairs. She was in the bathroom, putting on her dark red wig that reached her shoulders for her day out at the mall, or in other words, her son's "shopping trip". Smiling at her work of art in the mirror, Laurel headed downstairs and saw William standing next to the door, looking a little stiff. He was used to seeing his mother looking like a different person so he wasn't too surprised by her disguise.

"Sweetie, don't be so nervous." She crouched to his small height. "We're gonna have great fun today! You love our special game!"

"I guess so." said William. "But what if the bad men catch us again?"

"Don't you worry about that." Laurel zipped up her son's jacket."If they come for us, just leave the cops to Mommy. Now come on, we've got many prizes to win."

After driving for a few miles, they stopped at the Central City Mall, where many opportunities awaited today's keen shoppers. But it also held plenty of risk for a family such as Laurel and William Lance.

"Are you ready to win some prizes kiddo?" Laurel asked her son, who eyed the mall with anticipation. She adjusted the baseball cap that rested atop William's forehead, so it covered his entire head.

William nodded and said to her, "Let's play our game."

They wandered in the mall, past some stores, avoiding the foot court so William wouldn't try begging his mother for ice cream in the morning. Laurel eyed each passing store, hoping one of them would give her son the lessons she was willing to teach, lessons that she thought would surely help him survive in this cold and dark world.

It wasn't until a few stores later that they found a makeup store, the perfect place to start playing their special game.

"Hey kiddo." She nudged William whose nose scrunched at the sight of the store.

"Why with this stuff?" William asked.

"Because William, one must learn to crawl before they can jog." said Laurel. "Now before we go in, tell me. What's the most important rule of our game?"

William racked his brain, trying to remember what his mother had drilled into his head.

"You say it because you believe it?"

Laurel smiled warmly and ruffled William's brown hair. "There you go."

They opened the door and walked past several aisles of the lavish store. Perfumes, face powder and even the smell of nail polish remover wafted through the air like a fume. Laurel surveyed the area before her eyes spotted her golden opportunity: lipsticks.

She walked into the aisle, noticing an employee unpacking boxes. She was young, probably in her late teens and wore smoky eyeshadow. She had her music blasting at the highest volume so she couldn't possibly hear the mother and son discussing their plot:

"I want you to go over there and tell that girl how pretty she is." Laurel instructed William. "That's what a gentleman tells a lady. Once you have her attention, I want you to keep her distracted until I come to pick you up."

While Laurel was carefully snatching lipsticks from the shelves, an eager William sauntered right up to the employee. She was oblivious to him so he had to tap her on the leg. She looked down at him and took out her headphones.

"Can I help you?" She asked.

"You're a very pretty lady." He told her kindly, flashing his adorable smile, the kind that would literally stop traffic.

"Oh, that's so sweet." She was beaming at this sweet little boy, under his spell in a matter of two seconds. "You're awfully cute yourself."

"You really think so?" William asked hopefully.

"Of course!" The employee said happily. "I'm Nicole. What's your name?"

"David." William lied rather easily. "Your eyes, they're so big. How did you do that?"

"It's the eyeliner." Nicole pointed to the black markings near her eyelids. "It's got that perk. Cool huh?"

"I guess so." said William. "What are those metal things in your ears?"

"They're called piercings." Nicole laughed at the child's curiosity. "You'll have to wait for a few years before you're old enough to get them. Or at least until your mom lets you."

"Don't they hurt?" William asked.

"They do at first but it's totally worth it." Nicole smiled at the little boy. "Wait, where is your mom, David? Are you lost?"

"No, he's with me." Laurel kissed William's cheek as she came back to him. "Don't mind him, he loves making friends."

"Obviously." Nicole chuckled a little. "Your son is so sweet."

"Thank you." said Laurel. "Alright buddy, we have to go now. Say bye bye to your friend."

"Bye Nicole!" William waved to her as he walked out of the store with his mother.

"Bye David!" She waved back at him.

They continued playing their special game in the mall, as each passing round never happened. At the end of their shoplifting spree, they went out for ice cream, proud that William was getting better at playing their game.

* * *

**2012**

Laurel was preparing lunch one afternoon when she heard a loud banging on the door. She quickly slipped her gun in her back pocket when she crept up to the door and looked through the keyhole, to find an angry looking man and her 6 year old son standing on the other side.

She opened the door, keeping her gun out of sight.

"Honey?" She asked. "What's going on here?"

"I found your boy trying to steal my wife's jewelry in my house." said the man. "He froze when I caught him."

"William?" She asked sternly. "Is this true?"

The young boy nodded, while keeping his eyes glued to his feet, to avoid seeing his mother's face.

"I am so sorry." Laurel said to the man. "I will take care of this and make sure he never does this again."

"I won't press charges this time." the man let the boy go. "But I better not catch you within 10 feet of my house."

" **That**  can be assured." Laurel shoved him into the house. "Thank you for bringing him home."

"My pleasure." The man snarled bitterly before running toward his car.

Once the man was out of sight, and Laurel turned the stove off, she walked toward her son, who was slumped in his chair, afraid to face his mother.

"William Oliver Lance." Laurel grabbed a chair and sat next to him. "Look at me." He didn't move an inch. "Right now." He raised his head and was met with the piercing stare of his mother's green eyes, which were filled to the brim with disappointment. "You froze. After all I taught you, and you freeze like a dumbass."

"I'm sorry Momma, I-"

Laurel put her hand up, indicating that this was not the time for him to be speaking at all.

"And how stupid can you get?" Laurel asked, pointing to the sunlight filling in through the window above the stove. "Trying to take someone's jewelry in broad daylight?"

"I wasn't thinking Momma, I just-"

"Exactly!" Laurel slapped the table with great strength. "You weren't thinking at all!" She rubbed William's cheek affectionately. "Honey, I'm sometimes hard on you because I care. I just want you to be the best you can be." Laurel was never too harsh on William. She was a tough mom, but she meant well and they had an excellent relationship even as a small family of two.

"Look at me, William." Laurel looked at her adoptive son's cobalt blue eyes. "I want you to listen to me. Not thinking will make you afraid, and if you're afraid, you're gonna lose. I'm not raising a loser under my roof. Do you understand me?"

William nodded. "Yes Momma."

"Gotta use your head." Laurel tapped her own for emphasis. "You're my kid, you're smarter than that. Now, come on. Let's get some food into you."

* * *

**August 2013**

In the dead of night, two thieves made their way to Central City bank. They weren't in sight because they weren't stupid enough to try to break in through the front door, where they would be easily seen by any passing civilian. Thanks to new technology from this Earth's Harrison Wells, all it took was the push of a button and the cops would literally be there in ten seconds.

That's why, on top of the roof, draped head to toe in black protective gear, were Mother and Son, or as the criminal underworld of Central City had called them, "Mommy and Clyde".

"Mom, I'm bored." 8 year old William complained.

"Well, tough." Laurel snapped at her son. "You promised me you would help with this job."

"I know, Mom." said William. "I know we have to pay off this debt to this mob boss dude. But Mom, we just spent the last 5 minutes sitting! So yes, I'm bored. Very, very bored!"

"What were you expecting?" asked Laurel. "Just go in, take the cash and get out?"

"Well that is kind of the plan anyway." William retorted cheekily.

"Big talk, smartmouth." Laurel took out of her bag, two devices that would stick to the walls and release built in wires, that would send them down through the air vents. "This is a very busy town so why do you think we've been sitting around?"

William scrunched his nose in confusion, his fingers rubbing together as a means to calm himself down. "To make sure...that the streets are clear so no one sees us while we get inside?"

"That's right." Laurel kept her eye on the street. "And it looks like… it's go time!"

* * *

The next day, while pigging out on Big Belly Burger in their small house, Laurel and William Lance noticed that the cartoon on the TV in front of them had suddenly switched to a Breaking News report. They both flashed excited grins to each other, knowing exactly what this meant.

_Outrage is present in Central City Bank today as it was discovered that a total of $80,000 in cash had been forcibly withdrawn from several random accounts. Investigators have analyzed that this robbery had been pulled off 12 hours ago by two thieves who remain unidentified. WIth the alarm systems disabled, the cameras hacked into, and no trace of DNA being discovered, law enforcement is baffled by the skill of these crooks, leading everyone to wonder, "Who are these thieves and where is their next move?" If anyone has any information about this crime, Central City Police urge you to come forward. This is Lisa Snart, Action News._

"Nice work on the hacking, by the way." Laurel ruffled her son's head.

"You're the one who taught me all that shit." said William.

Laurel's smile was evident of the pride she was glowing with. She raised her drink and William raised his and they clinked them together, as a way to celebrate their victory.

"Hold up a second." Laurel took out a napkin and wiped William's face. "You've got some ketchup right here."

William of course, tried squirming away, but his mother was a lot stronger than she looked and held him firmly in place.

"MOM!" William loudly complained.

"Tough it out, kid." Laurel lightly chastised. "You've got a big mess on your face and I won't stand for that."

"But Mom!" William still tried squirming away (the key word being, tried).

"I love you too, William."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You wanna know about the case that inspired this? Just ask in the reviews and I'll tell you about a real life, "Mommy and Clyde".

**Author's Note:**

> So that’s it then! My first Arrow fic. I LOVE William Clayton’s character because there’s so much you can do with him and I just can’t wait for season 6. If there’s one thing I can never resist, it’s family moment between parents and their kids :)
> 
> I may turn this into a one shot series, I may not. Let me know in the reviews what you guys want.


End file.
